Nyck de Vries' sister speaks out after F1 star sacked by AlphaTauri
Nyck de Vries has been sacked by F1 team AlphaTauri with immediate effect.
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Nyck de Vries' sister has spoken out after her brother was sacked as a driver of F1 team AlphaTauri on Tuesday. The Dutchman has spent less than a year at the team before being let go, having struggled to impress the likes of Helmut Marko at Red Bull who is overseeing his development.
Before AlphaTauri officially confirmed the sacking, De Vries' sister Seychell seemingly confirmed the decision on Instagram - having posted a picture of herself on her story next to a photo of her brother captioned "Always got your back" with a heart emoji.
Viaplay commentator Allard Kalff had before that claimed that De Vries had been sacked with immediate effect after Marko lost patience with the driver. He reportedly gave him an ultimatum earlier in the year having failed to top a best finish of 12th this campaign.
It has now been confirmed that De Vries has indeed lost his drive. Daniel Ricciardo, on loan from Red Bull, replaces the 28-year-old at AlphaTauri from the Hungarian Grand Prix onwards. He had taken up a position at Red Bull as their reserve driver behind Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez this season.
Ricciardo took part in a Pirelli tyre test on behalf of Red Bull on Tuesday at Silverstone and Christian Horner had already teased the possibility of the popular Australian returning to the grid.
He joins Yuki Tsunoda at AlphaTauri who has impressed despite the car's limitations, which may have piled more pressure on De Vries. Ricciardo will make his comeback after a disappointing spell alongside British Grand Prix runner-up Lando Norris at McLaren last year.
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������| Nyck de Vries' sister just uploaded this onto her Instagram stories: "Always got your back ❤️"
— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) July 11, 2023
Waiting on official confirmation from Alpha Tauri... pic.twitter.com/pphyG1YZjb
De Vries, F2 champion in 2019, departs AlphaTauri without a single race point to his name this season but had been warned by Marko that if results did not improve then he would have no qualms with pulling the trigger.
"We spoke to De Vries and he agrees with us, he needs to improve," Marko told F1 Insider. "The gap to team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, who is doing a great job, is too big.
"To use footballer jargon, Nick has a yellow card but not the red one yet. If he improves, a driver change will not be an issue."