AlphaTauri driver Daniel Ricciardo has admitted that he’s not sure Nyck de Vries was quite up to the required standard to stay in Formula 1 this season.
Daniel Ricciardo took over from the Dutchman midway through the season due to a disappointing start from the 28-year-old.
During an interview on the Beyond The Grid Podcast, Ricciardo discussed his return to the Formula 1 grid.
In such a competitive industry with only 20 seats available, you have to perform at your best right from the start. It’s worth noting that Williams waited until the end of the season to decide whether to continue with Logan Sargeant for another year after a lackluster rookie campaign.
Nyck de Vries, who didn’t have the opportunity to compete in all 22 races this year, was also in the running to replace Pierre Gasly at AlphaTauri after achieving points with Williams at Monza in 2022.
However, de Vries was eventually replaced by Ricciardo after failing to score any points in the first 10 races of the season. Ricciardo expressed sympathy for his predecessor but acknowledged that the standards in a team like AlphaTauri are extremely high.
When asked if he felt sorry for de Vries, Ricciardo admitted that he did because he had experienced a similar situation less than a year ago. He understood the subjective nature of the decision-making process.
Did de Vries have enough time? Maybe not. Were his results satisfactory? Maybe not. Ricciardo recognized the dedication and effort that de Vries had put into his career and empathized with the disappointment of losing a race seat after being so excited to start the season.
He acknowledged that in this industry, dreams can be realized or shattered in a short period of time.
Ricciardo has benefitted from de Vries not driving well enough this season and has loftier ambitions than seeing out his days in F1 at AlphaTauri.
Martin Brundle has suggested that he’s not ready to step up to drive for Red Bull yet, but that’s ultimately the aim.
Alongside Yuki Tsunoda, Ricciardo will hope that working more closely with Red Bull next year will see them move closer to the front of the grid.
There isn’t a better team to learn things from right now and that could see them leave the bottom three teams behind and challenge the likes of Alpine and Aston Martin in the midfield.
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