Toto Wolff admits AlphaTauri ousting Nyck de Vries is not Mercedes’ problem

Wolff and de Vries had met for coffee after his ousting from the Red Bull junior team.

Toto Wolff admits AlphaTauri ousting Nyck de Vries is not Mercedes’ problem

Toto Wolff and Nyck de Vries (Credits: Sky Sports)

Recently outcasted Nyck de Vries saw a swell of support emerge for him after being fired from AlphaTauri in just ten races. Amongst those supporters were his former team, Mercedes. Although they have shown their support, Mercedes chief Toto Wolff spoke very bluntly.

After Nyk de Vries’ firing, there were talks of the driver reprising his role in Mercedes as their reserve driver. But Wolff has made Mercedes’ position clear on de Vries. He has said that all the positions in the team are filled at the moment. Even though de Vries has Mercedes’ support, it does not seem that he will be returning soon.

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“Maybe he needed more time. If they had given him the season, he might have been a good candidate for the second Red Bull seat. But that is not our problem. I do feel sorry for him, though,” Wolff told Sky Sports.

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Asked if there was more to firing de Vries than just his performances, Toto Wolff said, “I think Red Bull wants to chart how fast Ricciardo is, to see if he can possibly take over Checo’s seat. F1 is enormously hard and once a decision is made, there is no turning back”

In case you missed it: “Give him an F2 car,” Fred Vasseur rubbishes Toto Wolff’s claims about Max Verstappen competing in a field of F2 cars

Lewis Hamilton’s humility was one of the highlights in the first F1 GP in 2023 without Nyck de Vries

Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton (Credits: Bleacher Report)

Lewis Hamilton secured the pole position in the Hungarian Grand Prix after nearly two years, the last being in the position in Saudi Arabia in 2021. But to his dismay, he had a disastrous start to the race, having come down to P4 by the end of turn three. After this nightmare, Hamilton apologized to his team on the radio.

Hamilton’s team was quick to offer him support. Race engineer Peter Bonnington said, “Don’t sweat it, Lewis. It’s going to be a long, hot race.” While Hamilton could not recover his position in the race, former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher praised the driver’s humility after the race ended.

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“In the race, however, he messed up the start and wasted his chance for a podium finish early on. Immediately after the mistake, he apologised to the team – that shows greatness,” said Schumacher.

With Hamilton losing out on the podium and George Russell’s impressive performance of finishing P6 from P18, Mercedes did not have the ideal weekend. Their focus will now be to get ahead of the new McLarens onto the podium in the Belgian Grand Prix.

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