Lewis Hamilton’s mooted Mercedes replacement gets reality check in horror start

Lewis Hamilton’s possible replacement at Mercedes could soon be axed from F1 after a nightmare start to the season. Just 12 months ago, Nyck de Vries was tipped to secure a Mercedes seat if Hamilton walked away from the squad or retired.

The Dutchman stormed to notoriety and secured a full-time race seat after impressing at last year’s Italian Grand Prix. However, a year later the 28-year-old is on the brink of an F1 exit after a series of difficult results.

It comes after Dutch F1 pundit and Touring Car star Tom Coronel claimed De Vries was Toto Wolff’s “insurance policy”. He told RacingNews365: “If Lewis Hamilton stops, Nyck de Vries will get the seat. Do you know why? As I’ve been saying for a year, Nyck is Toto Wolff’s insurance policy.

“I don’t want to say he ‘uses’ Nyck, but that’s why he keeps him close to him. This is a boy who is doing everything he should have done. He has won all the championships he should have won.

“If you look at his track record and if you see what he’s still doing now, Nyck never lacked anything compared to the other drivers.” Shortly after, Wolff said he would “not understand the world” if De Vries was not snapped up by a top team.

The ex-Formula E champion secured points for Williams on debut and was quickly signed up as Pierre Gasly’s replacement at AlphaTauri. Ahead of the campaign, Marko stressed De Vries would likely be the team’s number one driver.

But he has failed to stamp his authority on the sport and is one of just two drivers not to score a point in 2023. Yuki Tsunoda has beaten De Vries in every race this season and the rookie could be under threat.

Reports from Motorsport.com suggested De Vries could lose his drive if he doesn’t improve his performance. He was apparently given just three more races to pick up points or risk facing the chop.

It could hand a lifeline to Daniel Ricciardo who is searching for a race return after being let go by McLaren last year. But, Marko appeared to cool down the rumours of an immediate swap.

He told F1-Insider: “Nothing will happen in the coming races. We talked to de Vries and he agrees with us: he needs to improve. The gap to teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who is doing great, is too big.

“To speak in football player language, Nyck got the yellow card, but not the red one yet. If he improves, there will be no problem.”