Nyck de Vries‘ spell in Formula 1 is over and Johnny Herbert thinks Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko made the right call by replacing him with Daniel Ricciardo from this weekend’s 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix.
De Vries completed just 10 races for AlphaTauri and failed to score a single point in that time which led to the decision to sack him and put Ricciardo into the race seat for the rest of the season.
“It’s been a disaster for De Vries,” Herbert said to the Metro. “It hasn’t come together for him. He has made mistakes, he hasn’t been able to beat Tsunoda.
“So, it came to the crunch with Helmut Marko at Red Bull who decided enough was enough and that Nyck had had his chance. The sport is tough. It may seem horrible but that is F1 life.
“If you make a mistake every now and again then perhaps he should have been given a bit more time. But he hasn’t lived up to what people expected. How long could it have gone on? It was damaging AlphaTauri.”
Nyck de Vries’ 2024 options
With his prospects in F1 seemingly shattered, De Vries now has to find a new race seat elsewhere in motorsport and there are two clear options straight away.
The first would be a return to Formula E where he raced prior to his AlphaTauri move and the series he won in 2021. Nissan appears to be the leading team in the chase for the Dutchman as they prepare to replace Norman Nato although Oliver Rowland is also in the mix for that drive.
The second logical move would be to join the World Endurance Championship hype train as more and more manufacturers enter the Hypercar class. Lamborghini and Alpine are joining the class for 2024 and will need drivers and that’s without looking at the team’s already in who might fancy a change behind the wheel.
Any other series seems like a stretch for De Vries and between the two aforementioned choices, WEC looks like the far more exciting prospects as manufacturers flood to the championship.
Where is the next F1 2023 race?
With the F1 circus finished at Silverstone, we move on to the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix which will be held at the Hungaroring, Budapest over the weekend of July 21-23.
