According to Scott Mitchell-Malm writing for The Race, AlphaTauri would be just as irrational in replacing Nyck de Vries as they were when first hiring him. On Thursday afternoon, it was announced that the Dutch driver would have three more races to prove himself - or else Daniel Ricciardo would take his place in the AT04 after the Spanish Grand Prix.
The journalist is not surprised that there are already rumors about De Vries being replaced, given Red Bull's history of quickly firing drivers. "But if the intention really is to replace De Vries depending on his short-term performance, then Red Bull would be just as irrational to replace him as they were to hire him in the first place."
Prior to his appearance for Williams at Monza, where he was a substitute last year, De Vries was not on any team's radar, but he quickly changed that by scoring points in his first race. Following a tip from Max Verstappen, the 28-year-old was opportunistic enough to call Helmut Marko. "If a team were to choose a driver based on a single case study and that case study for De Vries was Monza 2022, then he made a convincing case."
For that reason, Red Bull also chose De Vries as a replacement for Pierre Gasly at the sister team, but according to Mitchell-Malm, there was still some irrationality involved. "Similarly, De Vries did well at Monza, he looked like he could be a good F1 driver and had a lot of career experience (and a reasonable amount of F1 test time), making him a reliable choice. Although it was still a choice that took a bizarre series of events to appear at the top of the list."
The opportunism about De Vries could now be his downfall, the motorsport journalist fears. "He has had a very difficult start to the season. It sounds like he needs something good to happen in the short term in order to change his situation. But whatever Red Bull expected from De Vries when they took the leap in signing him, they should now give him a good chance to show that he is truly capable."