Nyck de Vries sacking: Was it too early for Alpha Tauri to let him go?

Nyck de Vries was let go from Alpha Tauri on Tuesday, July 11, after a string of poor performances across 10 races, but was it too soon to let the Dutchman go?

De Vries was parachuted into the Alpha Tauri seat ahead of the 2023 season after an impressive performance for Williams Racing at the 2022 Italian Grand Prix.

Since then, the Dutchman has struggled to get to grips with the AT04 which has resulted in him losing his seat, replaced by Daniel Ricciardo, for the remainder of the season.

But the $1 million question is: did he lose his seat too soon?

Slowest car on the grid

If going off the constructor’s table alone was to give you an indication of the pecking order for this season, Alpha Tauri currently sits at the bottom of the table. Ultimately, they have the slowest car on the grid.

This lack of performance clearly meant it was going to be an uphill battle for the Dutch driver to impress the Red Bull higher-ups like Christian Horner and Helmut Marko.

Prior to de Vries’ removal from the seat, hindered by the performance level of the AT04, the Dutch driver sat in 20th in the driver’s standings. This has tied the Dutchman with Williams’ Logan Sargeant, currently 19th, on zero points.

Despite this, it has been shown that it’s possible to score championship points with the car as Yuki Tsunoda scored two one-point finishes in both Australia and Azerbaijan respectively, earlier this year.

Even those two points haven’t helped the Faenza-based team lift their position as they still remain seven points behind the ninth-placed Alfa Romeo F1 Team.

De Vries vs Tsuonda rookie seasons

Although de Vries is 28 years old, he was – technically – a ‘rookie’ having never competed in his first ‘full’ F1 season. Granted, he did not have a great start to the sport with accidents and collisions ruining his races in both Australia and Azerbaijan respectively.  

He was outperformed and out-qualified by Tsunoda throughout the season. However, the same could be same for the Japanese driver who did not have an easy ride in his opening season. 

The Japanese driver had a total of three on-track retirements during racing sessions in Spain, Azerbaijan and Mexico with electronics, and engine issues plaguing the first two retirements and a collision in the final incident. 

Not forgetting his rememberable poor temperament when things didn’t go right. 

Since then, Tsunoda has flourished into a driver who is capable of delivering results in less-than-optimal machinery. Likely helped by Franz Tost, Alpha Tauri’s outgoing Team Principal, who has previously stated drivers require at least three years to get to grips with their F1 machinery. 

World champion

While De Vries has been unimpressive at Alpha Tauri, in his rookie season of Formula 1, it’s not to say that he is not worthy of a seat in the pinnacle of single-seater motorsports. Let’s not forget the Dutch driver is a world champion in a handful of disciplines.

The former Alpha Tauri driver secured the Formula Renault 2.0 Euro title in 2014. De Vries later tasted glory with title success in Formula 2 during the 2019 season before a move to Formula E saw him clinch the 2020/21 title.

De Vries took the 2019 title in Sochi, Russia, ahead of championship rivals Nicholas Latifi and Luca Ghiotto who finished the season in second and third respectively. Due to the lack of spaces available in F1, de Vries later opted to move to Formula E.

In three championships of his Formula E career, which spanned from 2019 to 2022 with Mercedes-EQ, the Dutchman secured his first championship win in the 2020/21 season – in his second season in the sport.

Verdict: not enough time

Yes, the performances were not what anyone honestly expected to come from de Vries. Perhaps he was overrated based on his accolades before entering F1, even built upon his impressive performance with Williams. 

However, 10 races were not enough for him to truly showcase his skillset. Maybe an end-of-season target may have been more sufficient, and more realistic target. Adding on the additional pressure, in an already high-pressured environment surely brought out more mistakes as he attempted to regain his confidence and deliver those much-needed results. 

Then again, perhaps the writing was already on the wall for de Vries’ F1 career when reports emerged that he was subjected to a three-race deadline, in a bid to improve his performance. 

In the end, that is the double-edged sword of sports across the globe. You will want to give your athletes the platform to develop and grow their potential but you’re also driven by performance and results.

That’s all for the article; Nyck de Vries sacking: Was it too early for Alpha Tauri to let him go?!

Read more Formula 1 here:

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.