Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has speculated as to why Purple Bull abruptly reduce Nyck de Vries from their sister AlphaTauri staff halfway by way of the season.

One of many greatest shocks of the primary half of the marketing campaign was when F1 rookie De Vries was jettisoned by AlphaTauri after simply 10 races and veteran Daniel Ricciardo was abruptly introduced in from the chilly to exchange the younger Dutchman.

Whereas De Vries had underperformed in his first season at motorsport’s highest degree – failing to safe a single level and constantly being outpaced by teammate Yuki Tsunoda – his quick sacking was seen as harsh by many within the sport, with four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel calling it “brutal”.

And, maybe unsurprisingly given his fierce rivalry with Purple Bull and staff boss Christian Horner particularly, Wolff claims he falls into this camp.

“Possibly he wanted extra time. If he had been given the season, who is aware of?” Wolff instructed Sky F1. “Possibly he would have been a extremely good candidate for the Purple Bull seat too.”

The Austrian supplied his personal concept as to why De Vries was forged apart, believing Sergio Perez’s poor kind at Purple Bull meant Horner and adviser Helmut Marko wished to judge 34-year-old Ricciardo – who has gained eight grands prix in his profession – as a potential alternative for the Mexican as Max Verstappen’s teammate within the grid’s quickest automotive subsequent yr.

“They wished, I feel, to do some benchmarking with Ricciardo to see if Daniel may be capable to take Checo’s [Perez] seat,” stated Wolff.

“And when you’ve made that call, then after all you’ll fall by way of the cracks.”

Wolff additionally supplied his sympathy to 28-year-old De Vries and revealed that he had met with the Dutchman within the days after his AlphaTauri sacking.

Wolff stated: “I’m a fan of his as a result of he’s extremely clever for car growth and has all the time contributed so much.”

De Vries’ subsequent transfer in motorsport continues to be up within the air, though he has been linked with a return to Components E, the place he gained the 2020-21 world championship.

His supervisor Guillaume Le Goff instructed Formule1.nl: “There may be loads of curiosity in Nyck. I’ve had fairly a number of calls within the final week. Endurance, Le Mans, GTs, Components E, additionally Components 1. We’ll see.”