Toto Wolff suggests Nyck de Vries may have earned Red Bull seat with “more time”
De Vries was axed from Red Bull’s sister team AlphaTauri after just 10 F1 grands prix this season, replaced by Daniel Ricciardo.
He previously acted as Mercedes’ test driver and was recently spotted chatting to Wolff in Monaco after losing his drive.
“Maybe he needed more time,” Wolff told Sky about De Vries.
“If he had been given the season, who knows?
“Maybe he would have been a really good candidate for the Red Bull seat, too?
“They wanted, I think, to do some benchmarking with Ricciardo. To see if Daniel might be able to take [Sergio Perez’s] seat.
“Once you’ve made that decision, then of course [De Vries will] fall through the cracks.
“I’m a fan of [De Vries] because he’s incredibly intelligent for vehicle development and has always contributed a lot.”
However, Wolff confirmed that Mercedes were in no position to throw De Vries a lifeline.
Mick Schumacher currently acts as their third driver although he is hoping for a full-time comeback to the grid.
De Vries, a former F2 and Formula E champion who caught the eye racing for Williams last year as a late replacement for the unwell Alex Albon, will get back behind the wheel soon.
He will drive a MP Motorsport Formula 2 car in a demonstration on August 12-13 at Assen.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
