Ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, several drivers have reacted to Nyck de Vries’ “cutthroat” sacking from AlphaTauri, after just 10 races into his debut season.
It was confirmed last Tuesday that De Vries had been dropped by the Red Bull family, with the Austrians having loaned development driver Daniel Ricciardo to the sister team to complete the season.
Whilst many are pleased to see Ricciardo return to the grid following his shortened sabbatical, the harshness of De Vries’ sacking has been noted.
The 28-year-old was a hot topic on Thursday at the Hungaroring, with Lewis Hamilton having taken a shot at Red Bull for how they treat their drivers.
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“That’s how Red Bull do it,” said Hamilton.
The Briton went on to say that the sacking reflects how “Red Bull works”, not F1.
“I’d say that’s how Red Bull works,” Hamilton added.
Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas spoke in similar fashion to Hamilton, as the Finn labelled De Vries’ firing as “pretty cutthroat”.
“It’s not the first time Red Bull has made decisions like this,” said Bottas. “They obviously follow their view what is the best.
“Obviously it’s really a shame for Nyck it was quite a short rookie season unfortunately. But also then it’s nice for Daniel he clearly wants to be back and now he’s got this opportunity.
“That’s F1, sometimes, pretty cutthroat.”
Lando Norris admitted that De Vries’ sacking was “brutal”, whilst he also noted that the Dutchman isn’t the first driver to have been sacked so abruptly by the Red Bull family.
The Briton is confident though, that De Vries will be able to continue his racing career elsewhere, with him being rated by the McLaren star as a “very good driver”.
“It’s happened to many other drivers,” said Norris. “I know it’s happened in that team more than any other team. It is brutal because it’s someone’s career.
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“I rate Nyck and I think he’s a very good driver so I feel like he’s not going to have a problem finding a seat somewhere else.
“But I guess it’s just your dream to be in Formula 1 and for it to kind of go so quickly… I also feel like it came very quickly for him, which is a very good thing, and sadly, it’s gone quickly too, which is a shame.
“To only have 10 races to perform, it’s not an easy task, I can tell you that. But Oscar [Piastri]’s come in, it’s his first season of Formula 1, he’s doing an extremely good job.”