Doubts within Red Bull about the suitability of Nyck de Vries for the AlphaTauri Formula 1 team are now public, which is sure to increase the pressure on the rookie full season.
If De Vries’ biggest advocate for the 2023 AlphaTauri seat is Helmut Marko, and now Marko seems to agree that Christian Horner was right to question De Vries from the start, that doesn’t bode well for De Vries’ prospects.
Sometimes, a driver in such a situation is relieved that there is no direct competition for their seat. They are safe because their team lacks clear alternatives.
That luxury is non-existent for De Vries, as Red Bull seems to have many legitimate candidates to pursue – especially if Yuki Tsunoda continues to perform at the level that deserves a new contract, and only one seat remains to be filled for 2024.
Daniel Ricciardo
Beyond its main driver line-up, Red Bull has several other grand prix winners, currently ensconced in the senior team, familiar with the RB19 in the simulator, ready to get relevant 2023 car track times, and hungry to return to the grid next year with something to proven.
But does Red Bull want to select him and does he want to take this step back?
Let’s deal with the former first. It depends what Red Bull wants for the sister team.
If you become the most qualified racer, then Daniel Ricciardo is the right choice. If that’s his best asset, then ditto, because his marketability is insane and he still defies logic in asking someone who doesn’t even race in F1 at the moment. If it’s experience and a team leader, then it’s Ricciardo, and also if evaluating someone for a potential Red Bull Racing 2025 seat then it’s probably Ricciardo again.
But if it’s a young player, then Ricciardo doesn’t check it. If that is someone for AlphaTauri to build over the next few years, he may not be a good fit either. And if it’s about the fastest, most versatile option that will do the best job… well, there’s no guarantee that it will be Ricciardo.
But assuming there’s no damning evidence from Red Bull’s simulators, or any tire tests Ricciardo has conducted this year, that he actually lost to McLaren, Ricciardo should be in on it. Then the question is whether he is ready for it.
If Ricciardo is truly determined to return to the grid in 2024, he will swallow his pride and do what needs to be done – lower his demand, accept a smaller squad and fight his way back to the front.
Time is still on his side if you compare him to the most enduring modern F1 racer. But he may not be in the least bit interested in going back to where it all started (well, sort of – team HRT is definitely not an option anymore!) and letting his career come full circle.
He wanted to fight at the front and finally win again. He couldn’t do that with the AlphaTauri. He may one day be with Red Bull. And that could sway him, if he saw it as a viable route.
Liam Lawson/Ayumu Iwasa
Not so long ago, a potential vacancy in Red Bull’s second team would have been filled by a junior. Now that seems less certain, although there are already two clear candidates.
And it would be very easy for Red Bull to choose Liam Lawson or Ayumu Iwasa to rebuild the junior program as one of relevance, a problem demonstrated by many of the talents Red Bull has supported in F2 in recent years to no avail. F1 team.
Yuki Tsunoda emerged as a protégé of Honda and Alex Albon was once a junior but was long dropped when Red Bull re-signed him for Toro Rosso. Red Bull hasn’t really identified any of its own talents in a long time and its scattergun recruitment has come at a cost.
The line requires credibility again, and these are two real candidates who can achieve it.
Lawson is a logical choice, and culminates at the right moment. While a more convincing second year in Formula 2 might have propelled Lawson into F1, he did an outstanding job in Super Formula after his move to Japan.
The series was highly competitive but Lawson has two wins in five races, has not finished lower than fifth so far, and is firmly in contention for the title. That’s been pretty impressive, regardless of whether he goes on to seal the championship.
Lawson feels like the kind of racer Red Bull doesn’t want to put down, and has a use for it, and sees something in it – but isn’t blown away by it. There is little Pierre Gasly’s description of the situation. That’s why a title in Japan may be needed to open up F1’s opportunities.
He might need to win it, to really win Red Bull’s heart. Although Lawson appears to have done a good job in Red Bull and AlphaTauri’s limited F1 appearances, he has let some doubt creep in with an inconspicuous first season in F3 and F2, and a good but not great sophomore campaign.
You could say he is at his best when he makes slightly unconventional moves – he should have won the DTM in 2021, for example, ahead of Alex Albon in the series, and now he is starring in Japan.
Iwasa’s chances may hinge on whether Lawson fails to convince Red Bull of his own credentials.
The young Japanese driver, another Honda protégé, is doing well in his second F2 season after impressing as a rookie last year, but it is, again, not the most convincing of grids and Iwasa has relied too heavily on reverse grid results. .
And if Tsunoda continues to keep the financial backing of Honda in his seat, it seems unlikely that a second Japanese rider will be supported as well – unless Red Bull chooses one of them purely on merit, and Honda only has to fund one.
Alex Hammer
If Red Bull isn’t interested in the IndyCar title favorite, who looks set to win the championship for a second time, then it has learned nothing from De Vries’ apparent missteps and isn’t looking seriously enough at his pick.
Palou drives superbly in IndyCar, having established himself as the real star of the series following an odd junior single-seater career that might best be described as ‘constantly making the best of difficult situations’.
Any chance Palou gets, he takes it, and always does it well. It impresses those paying attention even if it never translates into an extraordinarily good CV – 3rd in the Japanese Super Formula series, 7th in European F3 and 10th in GP3 being his major championship results in the most famous category ever. he followed in pre-IndyCar.
But he’s always exemplified speed, versatility and determination in spades. Now he is thriving in IndyCar and by all accounts performed well in the private F1 tests he completed with McLaren.
Palou is in a contract dilemma with current IndyCar company Chip Ganassi and McLaren, with an intention to join next season. His F1 testing job (and reserve driver role) has been temporarily cleared. Soon Palou will have to make a major career decision – unless Red Bull steps in and makes it simpler.
Because chances are, Palou will trade his IndyCar success for a real shot at F1. He has indicated he wants to get the team to take him seriously and will listen to them. Palou probably wouldn’t take anything but getting into the Red Bull stable at his age – he’s 26 years old – would be his big shot.
Red Bull would be stupid not to get talent like this. Especially considering how eager to facilitate an IndyCar move was a year ago when that driver was Colton Herta.
He doesn’t have a super license and can’t get it. Palou did, he is a better driver, and has accumulated F1 experience.
If he were American, Palou might even have AlphaTauri on offer.
