Sebastian Vettel believes that AlphaTauri's sacking of Nyck de Vries mid-season was "harsh" and brutal".

Of course, the Dutch youngster wasn't the first Red Bull associated driver to get the chop and he is unlikely to be the last.

Indeed, Vettel, who made his F1 debut with BMW Sauber at the 2006 United States Grand Prix was to replace Scott Speed at Toro Rosso mid-season the following year.

Speaking at Goodwood, where he is running a number of cars from his collection, the four-time world champion admitted to having mixed feelings about this week's news that former teammate Daniel Ricciardo is to replace de Vries at the Faenza-based outfit.

"I'm very happy for Daniel, very happy," he told ITV. "I like him. Obviously I raced with him, and I met him at the test when I was shaking down the McLaren for this weekend. I'm very, very happy for him.

"On the other hand, you have to be honest... it's obviously a shame for Nyck, the way it comes to an end.

"I think he was given a great chance," he continued. "Maybe things didn't happen for him the way he expected, or people expected. But it's also a bit harsh when it comes to a very sudden stop like that. It's brutal.

"I met him last year for the first time," he said of the Dutch youngster, "and he seemed like a really good person, and he is a good driver. He won the F2 championship, he's won international championships. So he's well recognised and I hope that this doesn't give a dent to his career. People tend to do that, and that's not right.

"Maybe those ten races didn't go according to how good they could have been. We don't know why, first of all, from the outside, and second, he is still a very good driver. So I have to also sympathise with the fact it's very harsh for him, and I hope that people don't see that dent."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by KKK, 19/07/2023 20:41

"Has anybody thought that its not De Vries complete fault. Marko should look at the car, its a bucket to drive, you only need to look at it during any race. "

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2. Posted by kenji, 17/07/2023 0:40

"Running an F1 team and being responsible for results often calls for dramatic, cold, hard and clinical changes when things go off the rails. This is what has happened here. Some media reports are suggesting that hDe Vries needed to be given three series in order to get him up and running consistently in the points. That is a ludicrous suggestion. De Vries was a not an ordinary rookie. He's 28years of age and has been around for a long time without bagging a drive in F1. A couple of cameos don't count.
Already Marko has gone as close as he ever would be to admitting he got it wrong!. Doing nothing was not an option and he also has Mintzlaff breathing down his neck. Ergo...action. The car is a dog and before they can get their show back on the road they will need to sort that out. That's where Ricciardo comes into play. Daniel has experience and he will be invaluable to the team in getting their priorities in line. All F1 cars have a limit and it doesn't matter who is behind the wheel, it can only run as fast as the laws of physics allows. No one can outperform the car, it's impossible. That said, De Vries may have been getting the maximum but I very much doubt it. The disparity between De Vries and Tsunoda would bear that out.

Prima facie, the decison to axe De Vries was the correct one to make...Hopefully Daniel will be able to assist the team in getting more out of what they've got and where they need to go. At least the team morale seems to have taken a leap gathering by his Faenza welcome. That's got to have a few tenths in it already."

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De Vries' sacking "brutal", says Vettel

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