GrandPrix247 2023 Underperformer of the Year: Nyck de Vries

De Vries delivered a decent audition with Williams at Monza in 2022, when he replaced Alex Albon - sidelined by appendicitis that weekend - and qualified eighth and finished ninth, a decent F1 debut.

Based on that and some nice word from compatriot Max Verstappen, Red Bull management decided to sign De Vries for AlphaTauri in 2023, replacing the Alpine-bound Pierre Gasly.

And while many "experts" us included, expected De Vries to deliver at AlphaTauri, given his maturity and experience, not to mention his decent junior career (Formula 2 and Formula E Champion), he turned out to be a massive disappointment, especially that he didn't have the toughest of teammate to deal with - Yuki Tsunoda.

After ten races in top flight, the patience of the powers that be at Red Bull and AlphaTauri ran out, and De Vries was shown the door, even before the summer break as Daniel Ricciardo took over his seat for the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix.

De Vries failed to get out of Q1 on six occasions out of ten, and was never close to Q3 in the remaining four. He never scored a point as even Liam Lawson who replaced Ricciardo (who broke his hand) in five grands prix outscored the Dutch driver.

Now we have to admit that the AlphaTauri AT04 was quite a lemon of a car so that must have played a role in De Vries' struggles, but there was more expected of him given he wasn't lacking in terms of experience. He was 27 years old when he joined Faenza, so despite entering a new territory, he should've been able to find his feet quite fast.

De Vries outqualified Tsunoda three times in the ten races they shared the AlphaTauri garage, and that is hardly something to write home about, especially that the Japanese driver is not setting the F1 world alight with his performances.

It is a pity that De Vries could not make it work in F1, as he looked to be a decent package as a driver, but that is the nature of the beast, some drivers just do not cut it in our sport, and disappointingly Nyck was one of those.

Our 2023 Underperformer of the Year.