Sebastian Vettel has given his take on Nyck de Vries’ departure from AlphaTauri just 10 races into the 2023 Formula 1 season, calling the decision “harsh” and “brutal”.
De Vries lost his seat after falling short of Red Bull’s expectations having been signed off the back of his impressive stand-in drive for Williams at last year’s Italian Grand Prix.
Red Bull moved quick to find a replacement by opting to put Daniel Ricciardo in the AlphaTauri for the rest of the season only eight months after the Australian’s last F1 appearance in Abu Dhabi last year.
Speaking to ITV at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on Saturday, four-time world champion Vettel said while he was happy to see his former team-mate Ricciardo back on the grid, he felt De Vries’ axing was a “shame”.
“I’m very happy for Daniel, very happy,” Vettel said. “I like him, obviously I raced with him, and I met him at the test when I was shaking down the [1993] McLaren for this weekend. And I’m very, very happy for him.
“On the other hand, you have to be honest as well. It’s obviously a shame for Nyck, the way it comes to an end. I think he was given a great chance.
“Maybe things didn’t happen for him the way he expected, or people expected. But it’s also a bit harsh when it comes to a very sudden stop like that. It’s brutal.”
Vettel, who retired from F1 at the end of 2022, hoped the situation would not have an impact on De Vries’ career longer term.
“I met him last year for the first time and he seemed like a really good person, and he is a good driver,” he said.
“He won the F2 championship, he won international championships. So he’s well recognised and I hope that this sort of dent doesn’t give a dent to his career. People stend to do that, and that’s not right.
“Maybe those 10 races didn’t go according to how good they could have been. We don’t know why, first of all, from the outside, and second, he is still a very good driver.
“So I have to also sympathise with the fact it’s very harsh for him, and I hope that people don’t see that dent.”
