Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko may have inadvertently triggered what is known in F1 as the ’silly season’, when rumours of drivers changing teams or having their contracts either not renewed or terminated start doing the rounds in the F1 paddock.
Marko has issued a warning to Nyck de Vries, who only joined F1 this year as an Alpha Tauri driver, that his drive is on the line and he could be replaced before the season ends.
We are only five races into the new season, but the problem for de Vries, and also Logan Sargeant at Williams, is that neither driver has scored any championship points.
Their teammates, Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon, have scored two points and one point, respectively. Not exactly a huge amount, you might think, but every point in F1 can be valuable as the top team receives 14 per cent of a total pool of $1.1 billion, whereas the bottom team only gets 6 per cent of that pool. So, every point counts.
The best placing for de Vries is 14th in the season-opening Bahrain GP, and the following race in Saudi Arabia. He was 15th in Australia, retired from the Azerbaijan GP and was 18th in Miami. By contrast, Tsunoda’s record is 11, 11, 10, 10 and 11 in those five races. So, obviously he is doing a much better job, albeit having the experience of this being his third season in F1.
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In the Miami GP, de Vries hit McLaren’s Lando Norris at the start and was struggling thereafter. In his defence, he might argue he wasn’t lapped like McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and Williams driver Sargeant were.
But Tsunoda was 23 seconds further up the road in 11th place. Marko has not stated when the axe could fall on de Vries’ F1 career, which began with an impressive one-off drive for Williams in last year’s Italian GP when he was substituting for an ill Alex Albon and finished ninth.
It was that performance that led world champion Max Verstappen, who raced with de Vries in the lower formulas, to suggest to Nyck he give Marko a call. He took Max’s advice and secured the Alpha Tauri drive - but the question is, for how long?
“Nothing will happen in the next three races,” Marko has assured de Vries.
“We have spoken to de Vries and he is of the same opinion as we are. He has to improve. The gap to teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who is doing a great job, is too big.
“To use footballer’s language: Nyck got the yellow card, but not the red one yet. If he improves, a change of driver will not be an issue.”
The Marko threat could be good news for New Zealand’s Liam Lawson, who raced for Red Bull-sponsored teams in both F3 and F2 and is currently racing in Japan in the Super Formula series for Team Mugen, with his Red Bull sponsorship continuing. This is the series that his fellow New Zealander Nick Cassidy won in 2019.
Cassidy is currently racing in Formula E and leading that championship, while another Kiwi, Mitch Evans, is fourth in that series.
Marko has named Lawson as one of two drivers who could replace de Vries, with the other being F2 driver Ayumu Isawsa.
Kiwi Liam Lawson, pictured here celebrating an F2 win in France last year, could be F1-bound if de Vries goes. Photo / Don Kennedy
“If the worst came to the worst, we would fall back on our pool of young talent,” Marko said. “We are talking specifically about Liam Lawson and Ayumu Iwasa. Ricciardo is not an issue.”
Daniel Ricciardo lost his McLaren drive last year to Piastri and returned to the Red Bull team he drove for from 2014 through to 2018 as a reserve driver. He began his F1 career with Torro Rosso - the former name of Alpha Tauri - in 2012 and drove for them in 2013 as well. Marko has effectively brought an end to Ricciardo’s prospect of returning to F1 with a Red Bull-owned team, preferring Lawson or Iwasa, because a drive with Red Bull itself must be out of the question given Verstappen and Perez have secure contracts, and with the way they are driving, appear irreplaceable.
The Marko statement also means Mick Schumacher, who lost his Haas drive last year and is now a Mercedes reserve driver, will not be considered a potential de Vries replacement.
“He’s a Mercedes driver and he’s not in our plans,” Marko added. “Accordingly, Toto Wolff is responsible for him.”
It seems Wolff has accepted that responsibility as he is eyeing the Williams drive for Schumacher as a possible replacement for Sargeant, who hasn’t made much of an impression so far. He started well by placing 12th in Bahrain, but since he has come 16th, three times, and last place in his home Grand Prix in Miami. The good news for Schumacher is that the team principal at Williams is James Vowles, a former motorsport strategy director at Mercedes, and Wolff may be able to call on their friendship to convince Vowles that Schumacher can do the business, despite his former boss Guenther Steiner classifying him as a car-breaker.
Vowles has previously admitted he overlooked Sargeant when he was still with Mercedes, noting he “came to Mercedes as a sim evaluation. I was interested in looking at him because he had performance, especially when you go back to his Formula 3 performance at an average team - he was there with Oscar [Piastri], and I rate Oscar, also, highly.”
“At the time, we had a good suite of drivers, so that was where my relationship with him ended.”
Vowles says since Sargeant arrived at Mercedes, he’s checked his data and insists he is at Williams on merit. But he is a rookie under pressure to perform, just like de Vries.
Elsewhere, for several weeks now there have been persistent rumours of a swap at the top, namely Charles Leclerc at Ferrari going to Mercedes in a direct swap with Lewis Hamilton. The latter is yet to renew his Mercedes contract beyond this season, and some pundits are suggesting he wants to see if the team can get him closer to Red Bull in performance, with major upgrades expected this weekend for the Emilia Romagna GP at Imola.
Leclerc was asked if he had spoken to Mercedes.
“No, not yet, not for the moment,” he replied, without completely dismissing the possibility.
“For now, I am fully focused on the project I am in today, which is Ferrari. I fully trust and I am confident for the future - then we will see, but I am fully confident for the project of Ferrari.”
“I’m fully committed to Ferrari, I love Ferrari. It has always been a dream for me to be in this team, and my main priority is to win a world championship with this team, so it’s not something on my mind,” he added.
Wolff, when asked if he had contacted Leclerc at all, was adamant.
“No. Zero, zero, really zero. You [the media] all smile because you don’t believe me, but I promise.”
“I think he’s 100 per cent committed and loyal to Ferrari and it’s his contract, and in the same way, we are 100 per cent committed to putting pen to paper with Lewis.”
Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur is equally adamant the rumours of Leclerc swapping to Mercedes are just that, rumours with no foundation.
“Drivers are key,” he says. “I said yesterday, it’s very important to have the drivers involved with the project for a long time. I’m sure we have a good combination, and the question about Charles, it’s a question, as usual. But I think Charles said also that he wants to be world champion with Ferrari, and I want to be world champion with Charles or with Carlos [Sainz]. We are very happy with the drivers … and they are doing a good job.”
So, is Hamilton fazed about the rumours?
“No, not really. I think maybe some of the drivers have relationships with different [team] bosses and stuff,” Hamilton said.
“I like where I am, I love my team, and I’m grateful for the journey we’ve been on and what we’re working on moving forwards. So, it doesn’t have any impact, no.”
This weekend’s race will be important for de Vries and Sargeant, but also for Leclerc and Hamilton, who week after week question their respective teams as to whether it’s all going in the right direction while signalling they remain loyal. It’s called the ‘silly season’ for a reason, and not because it is always logical or politically correct. The best example is Fernando Alonso. Who would have thought his move from Alpine to Aston Martin, a team only seventh in last year’s championship, would result in four podiums in five races, third place in the drivers’ title and second place currently in the Constructors’ title race?
