Toto Wolff praises the skills of Nyck de Vries, but also stresses that Mercedes currently has no job for him – in principle they want to continue to support him
“I’m a fan of his“, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff tells ‘Sky‘ about Nyck de Vries and explains that he thinks a lot of the Dutchman, “because he is incredibly intelligent for vehicle development and has always contributed a lot to it. “
Despite this, the former Formula E world champion does not currently have a job in Formula 1. He left Mercedes after the 2022 season to join AlphaTauri. But there, after mixed results, he was shown the door after just ten races.
“Maybe he needed more time. If he had been given the season: Who knows?” muses Wolff, explaining, “Maybe then he would have been a really good candidate for the Red Bull seat as well. […] I just feel sorry for him.”
For between 2020 and 2022, de Vries had supported Mercedes for three years as a test and reserve driver. After his exit from Red Bull, many suspected he could return to that role. But Wolff rejects that, at least for the time being.
Although the Austrian stresses that he will “continue to support de Vries with Mercedes as we can.” But he also makes it clear: “With us, everything is also too” That’s because, following the departure of de Vries, Mercedes hired Mick Schumacher as their new replacement driver.
The German is on schedule to carry out that role until at least the end of the year, so there is no place for de Vries at Mercedes for now. “Formula 1 is incredibly tough, you have to see that,” Wolff knows.
He suspects, “They wanted to benchmark [at Red Bull], I think, with Ricciardo to see if maybe Daniel could take the Checo seat. And once you’ve made that decision, then of course you fall through the cracks.”
Since the Hungarian Grand Prix, returnee Daniel Ricciardo has been sitting in the second AlphaTauri alongside Yuki Tsunoda. Helmut Marko recently explained: “We made the change with de Vries because stagnation had set in.”
“It was not progressing and he did not meet the expectations,” Marko said. Whether and in what role de Vries could return to Formula 1 once more is completely open after his Red Bull sacking. But there is no room at Mercedes for the time being.
