Dutch driver Tom Coronel has criticised Red Bull for not giving Nyck de Vries enough time to show his potential, after sacking him just 10 races into his rookie season.
De Vries was hired by Red Bull to race for AlphaTauri in 2023 following his incredible debut at the Italian Grand Prix last season, where he scored points after replacing an ill Alex Albon at Williams.
The Dutch driver’s performance impressed Red Bull advisor Dr. Helmut Marko and led to De Vries being signed.
Despite Marko being keen on signing the former Mercedes reserve, he was seemingly just as keen to sack De Vries after he failed to improve.
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In 10 races, he was defeated by Yuki Tsunoda eight times, before Red Bull pulled the plug on his contract.
Since the British Grand Prix, he’s been replaced by former Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo, who will complete the season for the Faenza-based team.
Ricciardo has so far completed two races for AlphaTauri, in which he finished ahead of Tsunoda in one of them.
Despite this, Coronel is convinced that the Australian won’t make a “difference” and that giving De Vries 10 races is “just not enough”.
“That’s just not enough. It’s definitely not enough and we all know that” Coronel told Motorsport.com. “There is hardly anyone who has only ten races to prove themselves and especially not with so little experience in that car.
“I am quite a bit disappointed about that, but on the other hand you know it when you will drive for Red Bull as fast as you come in, you can go out as fast.”
He added: “But Ricciardo is not going to make the difference there either. They will now find this out.”
What didn’t help De Vries was that Tsunoda has drastically improved this season and become a more mature and reliable driver.
Many have been surprised by his sudden progress, with him also being the only driver to score points for AlphaTauri.
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Coronel rates the Japanese driver highly and believes he’s “better than we think”, to the extent that he thinks the AlphaTauri driver should be put alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull.
“Yuki is better than we think,” Coronel said. “But yes, if you really have balls, then you put Yuki next to Max.
“He has three years of experience at the end of this season and is good enough with the sister team. Of course, then Max snaps it and that’s done too.”