Christian Horner explains how Nyck de Vries found out he lost his AlphaTauri seat

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Red Bull Racing chief Christian Horner has now explained how Dutch driver Nyck de Vries found out he lost his AlphaTauri seat.

Horner was speaking about the situation at Red Bull’s sister team on the F1 Nation Podcast.

It’s been a very tough season at AlphaTauri so far, with the team currently bottom of the Constructors’ Championship.

After losing Pierre Gasly to Alpine at the end of last season, they chose Nyck de Vries to partner Yuki Tsonuda.

De Vries arrived as a more experienced driver than Tsunoda in his career, without making the step into Formula 1.

He impressed in a cameo for Williams at Monza last year but has failed to convert that into consistent pace his year.

After 10 races, the decision was made to replace the 28-year-old with veteran Daniel Ricciardo.

Horner has now explained how De Vries was told he had lost his AlphaTauri seat.

Formula 1 is a cutthroat business and De Vries would have known for some time that his seat was under pressure.

To have made the decision before the upcoming summer break suggests AlphaTauri believed the situation wasn’t salvageable for the Dutch driver.

Horner explains how De Vries lost AlphaTauri seat

Asked how De Vries found out his time in F1 with AlphaTauri was over, Horner said: “It all happened a little quicker than expected bearing in mind that we hadn’t completed the test.

“Helmut [Marko] spoke with Nyck [de Vries] and he was the one that obviously recruited him, he was the one that spoke with Nyck at about lap 11 of the test I think.”

The test in question saw Daniel Ricciardo in the hot seat for Red Bull and unsurprisingly he showed his pace very quickly.

Ricciardo will know the rest of this season is an audition for him to get back on the grid in 2024.

A seat is unlikely to open up at Red Bull until the following year when Sergio Perez’s contract expires.

The Mexican is in a poor run of form himself but still sits second in the Drivers’ Championship.

Horner didn’t seem surprised that Marko told De Vries he had lost his seat when he did.

Given their position in the championship, they need to turn around their form as quickly as possible to keep up with the likes of Alfa Romeo and Haas.