Martin Brundle believes 28-year-old F1 driver couldn’t show his full potential this season

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Martin Brundle has admitted that he doesn’t think Dutch driver Nyck de Vries was given the chance to show his full potential at AlphaTauri.

Brundle was speaking on the Sky Sports F1 Review Show and was speaking about the driver changes that took place at AlphaTauri this year.

The Formula 1 grid used to be synonymous with mid-season driver changes and even teams struggling to complete a campaign.

The likes of Caterham and Marussia were unable to complete the entirety of the 2014 season before withdrawing from the sport.

However, since Haas’s introduction in 2016, there’s been a lot more stability in the paddock.

So much so, that Andretti are now hoping they can become the latest team to join the grid and increase the number of cars to 22 once again.

This season, only one official driver change was made before every team decided to retain their pairings for the 2024 season.

Nyck de Vries was hired to replace Pierre Gasly over the winter after a fantastic showing for Williams at Monza in 2022.

Unfortunately, De Vries lasted just 10 races and Brundle has suggested that AlphaTauri should have given him more time to adapt.

The other rookies on the grid – Logan Sargeant and Oscar Piastri – both benefitted from a full season at Williams and McLaren and noticeably improved during the final races of the season.

It was a case of what could have been for the 28-year-old who was replaced by Daniel Ricciardo ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Brundle wishes AlphaTauri gave De Vries more time

Speaking about the Dutchman, presenter Simon Lazenby said: “Nyck de Vries, unfortunate for him but he didn’t quite cut the mustard.

Brundle replied: “I would have liked Nyck de Vries to have had more of a chance to stay around a little bit longer and get a little bit more support because I think he had more potential than he was able to show.”

De Vries did struggle during his first races with AlphaTauri but as Brundle says, the team might have acted too quickly to move him on.

However, when you’ve got a driver in reserve with the quality of Daniel Ricciardo then it makes it a much easier decision.

The Australian was temporarily replaced by Liam Lawson due to injury and he showed more potential in five races than De Vries in double the Grand Prix.

The only caveat there is that the car had been upgraded in that time but even so, Lawson made a great case that he should be on the grid right now.

De Vries has been very successful in other series and will thrive going forward, but it appears his chance to establish himself as a Formula 1 driver has now gone.