De Vries has not spoken to anyone says his manager

Following the brutal decision to terminate De Vries' F1 career ten races into his rookie season, reports of his reaction surfaced. One unscrupulous one that got too much attention on social media, was a report of an altercation between the Dutch driver and Red Bull management, aka Helmut Marko and Christian Horner.

The fake story claimed de Vries got into a shouting match in which the Dutchman supposedly attacked the team: "I'm disappointed, but not surprised by the way. You stole Lewis Hamilton's eighth title back then."

But it is all malicious fake news according to De Vries' manager Guillaume Le Goff who denied it to F1-Insider: "Nyck has not spoken to anyone since the news about his AlphaTauri seat. The news is fake and defamatory. In the course of the week, there will be an official statement from Nyck. Until then, we still have a few things to arrange."

Le Goff is no stranger to the F1 paddock as the former ART Grand Prix engineer's company - named The Grid - also handles the interests of Pierre Gasly, the driver De Vries replaced at AlphaTauri. In December last year, De Vries reunited with Le Goff, having worked alongside the latter during his Formula Renault days.

Meanwhile, De Vries is likely to go back to Formula E, where he was champion, while the booming WEC Hypercars is a place where Nyck is well respected and could plug into any major ongoing or future projects in the upwardly mobile series. He was in line for a drive with WEC World Champions and Le Mans winners Toyota Gazoo Racing before F1 came calling.

Auto Bild adds in their report that De Vries, in the wake of his axing, was spotted having lunch with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff at a café in Monaco.

He was also seen in the company of his mates, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, swimming on the French Riviera. Legend has it that the Dutch F1 World Champion triggered the contact between Marko and Nyck that led to the AlphaTauri in the first place.

While we wait on De Vries to make an official announcement of his axing, as well as his plans beyond F1. Beyond that, it's all speculation until the 28-year-old makes an official statement. Whether he remains as the Red Bull and/or AlphaTauri reserve remains to be seen.

Of course, far more has been said about (and by) his replacement Daniel Ricciardo, who returns to the F1 grid thanks to De Vries' unexpected and ultimately disappointing failure. Much more was expected of him from everyone, hence his failure at the highest level is tougher to explain and digest.