Mercedes would "welcome" de Vries back to F1 reserve role

The FIA Formula 2 and Formula E champion was dropped by the Red Bull stable only 10 races into his full-time rookie F1 season in favour of a return for Daniel Ricciardo.

Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko reckoned de Vries “didn't do one super lap that really amazed us” as he struggled to rival team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.

De Vries posted on social media: “Of course, it hurts that the F1 chance I dreamed of for so long ended prematurely. But life is not a destination, it’s a journey, and sometimes you have to take the hard road to get where you want to be.”

While de Vries considers his options, Mercedes F1 engineering director Andrew Shovlin has said the 28-year-old Dutch driver would be “welcome” back at Brackley in a reserve role.

However, he reckons de Vries will instead covet a return to a front-lone race seat rather than take a job out of the limelight.

Asked by Autosport if there was a place for de Vries at Mercedes, Shovlin said: “I think Nyck will be looking for more than just to become a simulator driver so he’ll want to be doing racing.

“I’ve only spoken to him by text, and he said he’ll let me know how his plans are coming on.

“He was certainly very useful for us in that role and would be welcome to get him back in that role. But I suspect his focus will be on finding race seats.

Sir Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W14, leads Nyck de Vries, AlphaTauri AT04

Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images

“If it’s not in Formula 1, in some other big and competitive series. He’s clearly very talented: an F2 champion, a Formula E champion, which is a very difficult series to win.

“He’ll be looking back to get into a winning seat again.”

De Vries, who won his Formula E title with Mercedes, was contracted to the F1 team as a test and reserve driver from 2020-22.

He was also in line to deputise for its powertrain customer teams Williams, Aston Martin and McLaren.

When Alex Albon was sidelined by appendicitis, de Vries impressed by scoring ninth in the 2022 Italian Grand Prix for Williams.

PLUS: How de Vries' overdue F1 debut proved him worthy of a 2023 drive

Mercedes has since replaced de Vries with former Haas driver Mick Schumacher to test the W14 and carry out of the bulk of the team’s simulator work.

Since de Vries was let go, he has been photographed with Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff.