Tost explains why De Vries had to leave: 'That was the reason'

It was tough for Tost to let De Vries go. "This was also a very emotional decision because we have a really good relationship with Nyck. I just spoke with him on the telephone last week, and he didn't have an easy time with us." It made sense to the team boss that he would have a difficult start, although he hoped to see improvement, which he said was lacking.

Not enough time

"First of all, as a rookie, and this is generally [true] for the rookies, also for the future, the first half of the season is not so easy because they are racing at many racetracks which they don't know, like Melbourne, Miami, Saudi Arabia. Then they come to Baku, where it's a sprint race. That means there's only FP1, and then it's already the qualifying," Tost said.

"That means nowadays, if a young driver comes to Formula 1, he really has to be prepared in the best possible way, which means for me at least 5,000 to 6,000 kilometres of testing, private testing with an old car, like Alpine did with Piastri. This is the way to go." The fact that the AT04 is not an easy, competitive car did not help either, according to the outgoing team boss.

De Vries recruited too soon?

In retrospect, Red Bull might have brought De Vries in too quickly, although Tost would not go along with that thought. "There was no possibility because he didn't race anymore. It was in the end, decided by Red Bull. Afterwards, everyone is more clever. I think at that time it was the right decision."

Ricciardo better for AlphaTauri?

But the Dutchman did not get that time. He was allowed one day of testing in Abu Dhabi at the end of 2022 and had the regular winter testing days. It stopped there. "I expected a much better performance in Austria and in Silverstone because both of these tracks, Nyck knew quite well, but the performance didn't come up. And then we decided to change him, also thinking to the second half of the season where he doesn't know Singapore, Japan, Mexico, Austin and Qatar, which would not have made it quite easy."

Tost thinks attracting Ricciardo is better for AlphaTauri. "Now, with Riccardo, we have an experienced driver in there, which also helps us to develop the car, to find out better where the deficiencies of the car are and hopefully to improve the performance of the car."