Photo Credit: Red Bull Content Pool
After a disappointing start to the season, Nyck de Vries is experiencing a delicate phase in his Formula One career. In fact, according to various rumors, the Dutchman would be at risk with his job and his replacement could take his place by the Spanish GP.
Since his announcement as a Formula One driver with Alpha Tauri, Nyck de Vries has probably been among one of the sport’s most experienced rookies. In fact, arriving as a former Formula E world champion and in the wake of the excellent race at Monza last year, the Dutchman got into an F1 car with great expectations.
And yet, despite the important curriculum just mentioned and the high level of the drivers with whom he competed in the electric world championship, as soon as he landed in the top automotive series he has struggled and is still struggling to find the right feeling with his AlphaTauri (which, in his defense, is certainly not the best car ever produced by the Faenza team) and show the expected performance.
That said, over the past few days, there have been many rumors surrounding the young driver from the Netherlands and around his stay in the Italian team. Rumors that, as reported by many Italian and non-Italian media, would see de Vries at risk and ready, they say, to be replaced quickly. A substitute who, these days, was first identified in Daniel Ricciardo (who was spotted last week in the AlphaTauri factory to test the seat), to then indicate, instead, one of two pilots from the Red Bull academy: Liam Lawson (currently involved in Super Formula after a few seasons in F2) or Ayumu Iwasa, currently driving in F2.
In fact, therefore, after the mistakes and poor performance shown in this first part of the championship (and above all in Baku and Miami), it was foreseeable that something could happen in the former Toro Rosso and that the number 21 driver could be fired by the super advisor of the Red Bull group, Helmut Marko. Mistakes which, accompanied by the lack of appeal of the former Formula E driver on the Dutch sponsors (all committed to following Max Verstappen), are pushing the top management of the Italian team and of Milton Keynes to evaluate a possible replacement of de Vries within a few races.
A replacement that certainly won’t take place during the next GP at Imola, the home race of the Red Bull sister team, but according to some information collected, it could happen quickly anyway. In fact, some Italian media outlets are ready to bet that Yuki Tsunoda will already have a new teammate for the Spanish GP.
At this point we just have to wait a few days, and the performance of Nyck de Vries both in the Made in Italy GP and in the Monaco GP, to see if these stories that have followed one another will prove to be true or not.
