Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has claimed that axed AlphaTauri driver Nyck de Vries could’ve ended up being a “good candidate” for Red Bull, had he been given all of 2023.
Following the British Grand Prix, De Vries was brutally sacked by AlphaTauri and the Red Bull family.
The Faenza-based team gave the 28-year-old just 10 races in his rookie season, something the side and Red Bull have faced criticism for.
It does appear though, that the right decision was made, given how well Red Bull development driver Daniel Ricciardo has done since returning to the sister team.
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Whilst Ricciardo finished behind team-mate Yuki Tsunoda last weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix, the eight-time race winner finished ahead of the Japanese driver at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Ricciardo claimed P13 in Hungary to finish ahead of Tsunoda, who he also out-qualified.
The fan favourite could only salvage 16th at Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday though, whilst Tsunoda scored a point in 10th.
Despite this, Wolff has admitted that nobody will ever know how much De Vries might’ve developed if Red Bull kept the Dutch driver for the entire season.
The Austrian did stress though, that the situation wasn’t Mercedes’ “problem”.
“Who knows what would have happened if he had been given the whole season,” Wolff said to Sky Germany.
“Maybe he would have been a good candidate for the Red Bull seat, but that’s not our problem.”
De Vries actually left Mercedes at the end of 2022 to make the switch to AlphaTauri, having been the Brackley-based team’s reserve driver.
Whether he returns to the Silver Arrows in a reserve role remains to be seen; however, the Dutchman’s manager has insisted that De Vries has received plenty of options from a variety of championships.
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One series he’s been heavily linked with is Formula E, and Nissan in particular.
De Vries has been linked with a potential move to Nissan as well as a possible move to Maserati, who he was due to race for this season prior to moving to F1.
Nissan is his expected destination though, with the 2021 Formula E World Champion having actually been seen at last weekend’s Formula E season finale in London.