Sebastian Vettel believes AlphaTauri and Red Bull’s decision to sack Nyck de Vries from his Formula 1 seat was “brutal”.
The 28-year-old had just 10 races with the Red Bull sister team in which he scored zero points and Helmut Marko made the decision to replace him with Daniel Ricciardo for the Hungarian Grand Prix onwards.
The Australian looked impressive in the RB19 at the Pirelli tyre test in Silverstone but it’s a whole different challenge jumping into the slowest car on the grid and Vettel thinks De Vries should have been given more time.
“On the other hand, you also have to be honest. “Of course, it’s a shame for Nyck how it ends. I think he had a great opportunity,” Vettel said at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
“Maybe it didn’t go the way he or the people expected it to. But it did It’s also a bit tough when it ends so suddenly. It’s brutal.
“He’s won the Formula 2 championship, he’s won international championships. So he’s very well recognized and I hope that kind of dip doesn’t take away from his career. People tend to do that and it’s not right.”
Short and sweet
Vettel didn’t elaborate greatly when asked about his opinion of Ricciardo getting back into the sport after being axed by McLaren at the end of 2022 in favour of Oscar Piastri.
“I’m very happy for Daniel,” was Vettel‘s short response having been teammates with Ricciardo in 2014 before he left Red Bull for Ferrari.
Vettel was at Goodwood to show off his own Williams FW14B which Nigel Mansell drove to the F1 world title in 1992. The four-time world champion was also proving that such cars could be run sustainably with his Race Without a Trace campaign.
He wowed the sold-out crowd with donuts and burnouts, accompanied by the roar of the V12 engine in the back. Mick Schumacher, Piastri, Mika Hakkinen and others were among the F1 names at the event as the McLaren Solus GT won the famous Timed Shootout.
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.
