Nyck De Vries had his nightmare rookie season interrupted midway when he was sacked from AlphaTauri only ten races into the season. The news came as a shock to the entire F1 world and also to De Vries himself. However, a week after the announcement, De Vries was spotted alongside Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, trying to release some steam.
Kelly Piquet’s sister Julia Piquet recently took to Instagram and posted a story of a picture of her friends and family taking a swim and having fun. In the picture, Kelly Piquet’s boyfriend Verstappen was spotted surrounded by Norris and De Vries.
max lando and nyck having fun with friends 🥹 pic.twitter.com/GynUqGOJXU
— nini (@SCUDERIAFEMBOY) July 18, 2023
The picture immediately sent fans into a frenzy as they appreciated the friendship between the three drivers. Some of the fans also applauded Verstappen and Norris for sticking with their friend during such tough times.
lando and max definitely dragged nyck out to make him feel better 😖😖😖
— emily | IM SEEING TAYLOR WHAT (@LNLTBGP) July 18, 2023
Verstappen has always been by the side of Nyck De Vries
Verstappen has been super supportive of his fellow countryman even before he made his way into F1. De Vries had revealed how Verstappen acted like his older brother at times and gave him a lot of support before his F1 debut with Williams at Monza.
The debut at Monza immediately put De Vries on the map, and after quite a few years of not getting opportunities to get into F1, the 28-year-old racer got the chance to drive for AlphaTauri. However, that did not really go well for De Vries, and he faced the sack before even reaching the halfway point of the season.
To rub salt into the wounds, Christian Horner recently admitted that he had reservations about recruiting De Vries right from the beginning. Horner admitted that he never understood how the former Formula 2 champion fitted into the Red Bull philosophy.
De Vries’ exit has led to tough competition at AlphaTauri
AlphaTauri brought in the fan-favorite Daniel Ricciardo to replace the outgoing Nyck De Vries. It has been widely speculated that bringing in the seven-time race winner is just a clever strategy by Red Bull to test out the mettle of Yuki Tsunoda and whether he is ready for the main Red Bull seat alongside Verstappen.
🚨 | Daniel Ricciardo is set to replace Nyck de Vries after the summer break, as per F1-Insider sources
The rest of the season would be about comparing Tsunoda and Ricciardo.
[https://t.co/vdHgoXKyDp] pic.twitter.com/T8jBhQoLtc
— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) July 10, 2023
As for Ricciardo, he would want it to be him who takes the Red Bull seat and replaces Sergio Perez. The heads at Red Bull know that Ricciardo is desperate to return to the Milton-Keynes outfit. Horner himself admitted that Ricciardo would have never taken up the AlphaTauri seat if he didn’t believe he could make his way into Red Bull.
Therefore, the rest of the season for AlphaTauri would be a pure comparison between Ricciardo and Tsunoda. Whoever comes out on top will have a much bigger chance of moving up to Red Bull.
