After an impressive performance at last year’s Italian GP with Williams, Nyck de Vries was chosen by AlphaTaurti for the 2023 Formula 1 season. However, not even the uncompetitive car saved him from Red Bull’s ruthless structure and he was fired after the Hungarian GP without scoring any points.
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This decision was contested by Tom Coronel, who told Formule 1 magazine that his fellow Dutchman showed signs of progress and didn’t get a fair chance: ‘He only lasted ten races. I don’t believe he had a fair chance. He should have finished the year. Nyck made mistakes and some of them were bad, 100 percent. But I saw improvement. He just couldn’t reach his peak, and that’s unfortunate.’
Coronel believes that de Vries should have tempered the internal expectations placed upon him: ‘Before the season, Helmut Marko [Red Bull consultant] positioned him as the team leader, and Franz Tost [team principal] also said he expected Nyck to be there from the first qualifying session. Nyck is not a talker, he’s not a leader, but he should have said: “Guys, wait a minute, don’t forget that I need some time.”
The Formula E title, extensive experience in various disciplines at 28 years old, and previous experiences as a test and reserve driver in F1 raised expectations for De Vries – although he was a complete rookie. He ended up losing his seat to Daniel Ricciardo and in 2024 he will split his time between Formula E and the World Endurance Championship (WEC).