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.
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).
