Toto Wolff makes the audacious claim, says Nyck de Vries could have challenged Sergio Perez’s Red Bull seat if given a full seaosn at AlphaTauri
Red Bull booted out Nyck de Vries ten races into the season due to his disastrous performances
Follow Us
Toto Wolff and Nyck de Vries (Left, credits: Sports Illustrated) and Sergio Perez (Right, credits: Daily Express)
Nyck de Vries faced an untimely end to his Alpha Tauri stint due to lackluster performances, subsequently replaced by Daniel Ricciardo. Now, with Sergio Perez‘s seat in doubt due to recent underwhelming performances, rumors swirl about potential replacements. Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, contemplates what could have been if Nyck de Vries had been given a complete season to prove himself.
de Vries fell well behind his Alpha Tauri counterpart, Yuki Tsunoda, and failed to score points in any of the first ten races. With his poor performances producing no results for the Italian team, he was fired and replaced by Daniel Ricciardo, who switched teams from McLaren to Red Bull as their third driver over the winter.
Sergio Perez’s future is in doubt following his underwhelming performances in the last couple of races. The Mexican only managed to bag one podium in the last five races, which were all won by his teammate, Max Verstappen. His lackluster results led to rumors that Red Bull might potentially replace him with Ricciardo after the expiration of his contract.
Red Bull is looking for a strong contender to fill the second driver’s seat, and de Vries’ past performances raise doubts about his suitability. However, Toto Wolff ponders the possibilities: “Who knows what would have happened if he had been given the whole season? Maybe he would have been a good candidate for the Red Bull seat, but that’s not our problem.”
Why have Mercedes never offered an F1 seat to Nyck de Vries?
Once part of Mercedes’ driver development program, de Vries served as the reserve driver for the German outfit. He was loaned to Red Bull for his Alpha Tauri seat following his stunning debut at the Italian GP last season. After his termination, he was seen meeting with his former boss, Wolff.
While Mercedes has a history of recruiting their junior drivers to Williams, they did not extend the same opportunity to de Vries, raising questions about their evaluation process. Williams chose Nicholas Latifi over him in 2020, despite him winning the F2 title in 2019. And, Mercedes did not offer any promotion to him and the Willimas seat has gone to Logan Sargeant who replaced Latiffi.
Currently, without a team, de Vries’ role at Mercedes is now served by Mick Schumacher. His future in F1 remains uncertain, and Williams is the only team without a reserve driver, potentially offering an opportunity for the Dutch driver. As his future hangs in the balance, the paddock awaits news on whether Williams or another team will offer him a chance to prove his potential on the Formula 1 grid once again.
In case you missed it:
Stay Updated!
Rohit Bhaskar
(727 Articles Published)