AlphaTauri team boss Franz Tost says that Red Bull fired Nyck de Vries because there was no sign of any further development on familiar routes. While he admits the Dutchman had a tough time as a rookie, at least the European season should have been better – but that wasn’t the case.
De Vries had lost his cockpit to Daniel Ricciardo before the race in Hungary and hadn’t scored a single World Championship point up to that point. According to Tost, with no sign of further development and with the prospect of many unfamiliar tracks, there was a need for action in the second half of the season – even if he feels sorry for de Vries.
“It was also a very emotional decision because we have a very good relationship with Nyck,” explains Tost. “I spoke to him on the phone just last week.”
“He didn’t have it easy with us. First of all, the first half of the season is not easy for a rookie – and that applies to rookies in general – because they drive on many tracks that they don’t know: Melbourne, Miami, Saudi Arabia,” said the Austrian. “Then they come to Baku, where there is a sprint race. That means there is only one practice session and then qualifying.”
“This means that nowadays a young driver coming into Formula 1 really has to be as well prepared as possible and for me that means at least 5,000 to 6,000 kilometers of private testing with an old car, like Alpine does with [Oscar] Piastri made. That’s the right way,” says Tost.
He knows that it was even more difficult for de Vries because AlphaTauri didn’t give him a competitive car – the racing team is last in the championship with two points – but he also emphasizes: “I expected a much better performance in Austria and Silverstone because Nyck knew both tracks very well.”
But in both qualifying sessions, de Vries dropped out in Q1 and only finished 17th in the race. “The performance wasn’t there,” Tost clarifies. “And then we made the decision to switch, also considering the second half of the season where he doesn’t know Singapore, Japan, Mexico, Austin and Qatar, which wouldn’t have made things any easier.”
His replacement Daniel Ricciardo, on the other hand, knows the tracks and should also use his experience to help advance AlphaTauri in its development and to find out where the weaknesses of the car lie.
De Vries was brought to AlphaTauri by Red Bull’s motorsport consultant Helmut Marko before the season, although Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was skeptical. Marko now admits to ‘Sky’ that his decision was wrong at the time, but Tost understands it.
Because there was no further assessment after de Vries’ appearance in Monza for Williams: “There was no possibility because he no longer raced and the decision was up to Red Bull again,” he says. “Now, in hindsight, everyone is smarter.” Nevertheless, he supports Marko: “I think it was the right decision at the time.”