Toto Wolff and George Russell are in agreement that Nyck de Vries deserves another opportunity in Formula 1, despite his challenging first half of the season against Yuki Tsunoda, which led to his replacement by Daniel Ricciardo midway through the season.

The 2023 Dutch Grand Prix brought further disappointment for De Vries when AlphaTauri opted to replace the injured Ricciardo with rookie Liam Lawson, who had a positive weekend overall. De Vries spent time in the Mercedes garage during that weekend.

Toto Wolff expressed his belief in De Vries, stating, “I think he deserves to be on the grid. The moment you’re not feeling confident in a car over a prolonged period, the more pressure you put on yourself, the less well you perform. And I think this happened. He’s quick. If you win F3 and F2, there is high potential, and he was never able to show it.”

George Russell, who won F2 the season before De Vries’ 2019 title, echoed Wolff’s sentiment, saying, “I do think he’s Formula 1 level but didn’t get the opportunity that he deserved.”

Wolff also reiterated Mercedes’ willingness to welcome De Vries back as a reserve driver, as he had previously stated. De Vries had appeared for Mercedes in multiple F1 sessions during his time racing for their Formula E team. His debut for Williams at the 2022 Italian Grand Prix was a result of his affiliation with Mercedes after he had driven for Aston Martin in free practice earlier that weekend.

Wolff added, “I’m glad we have a third driver that I know will do the job if one of ours eats a bad fish. But the contribution in the simulator is tremendous, and that makes us sometimes make significant progress from Friday to Saturday because he’s working tirelessly overnight.”