Former AlphaTauri driver Nyck de Vries has spoken out for the first time since being sacked by Red Bull.
De Vries has been replaced at Red Bull’s junior team by Daniel Ricciardo, effective from this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix onwards, and dropped from its driver programme entirely.
De Vries, who impressed as a stand in for Williams driver Alex Albon in Italy last year, lasted just 10 races of rookie season.
The 28-year-old took an unorthodox route to F1 after winning feeder series Formula 2 in 2019, claiming the 2020/21 Formula E title on his way.
The Dutchman’s options for a return to F1 look limited, although he retains a good relationship with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, having previously been part of the company’s driver stable.
In a statement posted to Instagram, De Vries suggested he is not done with his F1 dream.
“I would like to thank Red Bull and Scuderia AlphaTauri for the opportunity to live my dream,” he said. “Of course it hurts that the F1 chance I dreamed of for so long ended prematurely. But life is not a destination, it’s a journey and sometimes you have to take the hard road to get where you want to be.
“I am grateful for our privileged lives, proud of our journey and my family. This is just another experience, we move on and look forward to the next chapter. Thank you to everyone for your kind and encouraging messages in the past week. It’s been heart-warming to feel your support.”
De Vries was signed to the Red Bull driver programme largely off the back of his drive to 9th in Monza last year.
Helmut Marko, the man who has signed him, quickly soured on De Vries and spoke out about him publicly on numerous occasions.