Nyck de Vries, who lost his spot to Daniel Ricciardo not too long ago was spotted again recently at Verstappen’s step-daughter’s birthday. Nyck was a driver for AlphaTauri for only 10 races this season until he was fired. After a series of poor performances, Red Bull boss, Helmut Marko found it necessary to take action towards him.
Although Nyck and his teammate Yuki Tsunoda were rookies on the Junior Red Bull team, Nyck was fired while Yuki got three seasons to prove himself.
Nyck was replaced by Daniel Ricciardo by the time of the Hungarian Grand Prix. After this series of events, he was only seen with his ex-boss, Toto Wolff and then he disappeared from all of his social media.
Sebastian Vettel and many others spoke about how harsh and brutal his exit was. Soon he came out with a statement that he shared on his Instagram saying he was honored to have the chance to be in F1. He ended his statement by saying that he will continue to take a break from social media.
But recently, he was seen with Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in a picture of them at Kelly Piquet’s daughter, Penelope’s birthday. After his departure from the sport, everyone had moved on quickly to the next race with Daniel Ricciardo’s welcoming being trending. But he appeared with a big smile in the picture with the Formula 1-star drivers.
Nyck de Vries and Max Verstappen share a close bond
Nyck de Vries and Max Verstappen have been friends since their karting days as kids. But after growing up they parted ways to pursue their own careers, with Max Verstappen in Formula 1 and Nyck de Vries in Formula E. Max Verstappen won Formula 1 championships meanwhile, Nyck de Vries successfully conquered the championship title in Formula E.
Even after Nyck de Vries’ departure from the sport, Verstappen has spoken up defending him multiple times. On the other hand, Nyck de Vries has also mentioned Verstappen’s role in his life and his being a big brother to him. With this long shared history, the two still seem to be in contact. And they seem closer than before after his appearance at Max’s stepdaughter, Penelope’s birthday.
Max Verstappen is dating Kelly Piquet who was dating Daniiel Kvyat before him. She had a daughter with Kvyat and soon after they split up. Ever since Max has been seen with Penelope a few times. Even during his Twitch streams, Penelope accompanies him. Recently, they celebrated her birthday and Nyck was spotted in the picture with them.
The entire family had gotten together to celebrate the little girl. In the group picture, Nyck was standing next to Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. He was rocking a blue shirt just like Max while Lando stood behind them in a black hoodie. This was the first time Nyck was spotted publicly after his meeting with Toto Wolff. While there are no updates on Nyck’s next career move, fans have been very supportive of him.
lando at penelope’s birthday party!! 🥹🩷 pic.twitter.com/82hTg87v3s
— comfort lando (@safeforlando) July 26, 2023
Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo, who replaced him seems to be fitting into the group. He got the best result of P13 for the AlphaTauri team. While he settles into his new team, Nyck seems to be relaxing in his free time.