Nyck de Vries is set to dramatically return to the Formula 1 paddock at the Mexico Grand Prix, where it’s reported he’ll be Red Bull’s and AlphaTauri’s reserve driver.
The revelation was revealed by RacingNews365.com and comes just over a month since the Dutch driver was replaced by Daniel Ricciardo at AlphaTauri.
De Vries was demoted just 10 races into his rookie season, a period of time in which he was defeated by Yuki Tsunoda eight times.
The ex-F2 and Formula E World Champion failed to score a single point during his time racing for the Faenza-based team, and certainly wasn’t meeting Red Bull advisor Dr. Helmut Marko’s expectations.
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De Vries’ demotion was expected as a result but was still viewed as being extremely harsh given how little time he was given.
The driver openly admitted that being removed from an F1 seat so soon “hurts”, with it likely being the end of his F1 dream.
“A short note from me…” De Vries wrote, as reported by GPFans.com. “After recent events, I decided to take some time for myself away from social media, which I will continue to do.
“I would like to thank Red Bull and Scuderia AlphaTauri for the opportunity to live my dream. Of course it hurts that the F1 chance I dreamed of for so long ended prematurely.
“But life is not a destination, it’s a journey, and sometimes you have to take the hard road to get where you want to be. I am grateful for our privileged lives, proud of our journey and my family. This is just another experience, we move on and look forward to the next chapter.
“Thank you to everyone for your kind and encouraging messages in the past week. It’s been heart-warming to feel your support.”
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Given how prematurely he was demoted, De Vries potentially returning to be their reserve driver in Mexico City is remarkable.
It’s a situation which could occur due to Ricciardo, of course, currently being on loan at AlphaTauri, and with Liam Lawson set to compete in the Super Formula season finale that weekend.
It leaves just De Vries, or perhaps Ayumu Iwasa, to fill the role.