Sacked F1 driver makes bizarre Nico Hulkenberg complaint about critics

Nico Hulkenberg, Bahrain GP, Haas, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

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Sacked F1 driver makes bizarre Hulkenberg complaint about critics

Sacked F1 driver makes bizarre Hulkenberg complaint about critics.

GPFans Staff

Tuesday 2 April 2024 09:57 Updated: 05:18

Former AlphaTauri driver Nyck de Vries has discussed criticisms since returning to Formula E.

Expectations were high for the former driver when he joined F1, but only took part in 10 races in 2023 before being let go.

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Stepping in for Alexander Albon at Williams during the Italian Grand Prix in 2022, he scored points on his F1 debut, earning him praise throughout the paddock.

However, he failed to prove himself in a full-time seat, with Red Bull director Helmut Marko claiming de Vries ‘did not meet expectations’, and replacing him with Daniel Ricciardo at the Hungarian GP.

De Vries discusses Formula E critics

Since leaving F1 the Dutch driver has moved back to Formula E, where he won the championship for Mercedes in 2020-2021.

He currently competes for Mahindra Racing, and sits 17th in the 2023-24 Formula E championship.

"Firstly, I'm not aware of any criticisms," de Vries said to RacingNews365. "I think it's all about expectations, and being realistic, I think if there are criticisms which I'm not aware of, I'm not reading it. I try to avoid any kind of negativity.

"Do they follow the series? Or are they aware the team kind of finished at the back last year and without any hardware change?

"Do you expect that Nico Hulkenberg is going to win the next grand prix? It's like, honestly, I don't have much to say about it. We do us, we focus on ourselves.

"We take our internal little wins and victories because we do still need to seize them because otherwise, it could become frustrating if you don't kind of seize them. And I think we do.

"I'm enjoying the kind of progress and the team and the foundation we are building together and hopefully, in the near future, we can get that reward."

Red Bull Mercedes Daniel Ricciardo AlphaTauri Formula E Hungarian GP