Nyck de Vries spotted talking with a former rival team boss

24 hours after his AlphaTauri ousting, Nyck de Vries was spotted in a Monaco café having a sit-down with Mercedes motorsport Toto Wolff.

But before the rumour mill hits high gear and declares ‘Lewis Hamilton is out, Nyck de Vries is in at Mercedes’, it should be noted Wolff and de Vries have known one another for years with the Dutchman most likely turning to his former boss for commiseration and counselling.

De Vries was informed on Tuesday morning that his services were no longer required by AlphaTauri, with the 28-year-old sacked with immediate effect after Daniel Ricciardo put in some competitive times as he began testing for Red Bull at Silverstone.

What could the future hold for Nyck de Vries?

Snapping a picture of de Vries and Wolff sitting in an outside café in Monaco, Reddit had a bit of fun with the background story to the photograph.

One Redditor quipped: “The Toto masterplan: send Nyck in to spy on RB, and then take him back with insider knowledge.”

The response to that from Haunting_Goal6417: “Red Bull masterplan is sending him back with AlphaTauri knowledge. ‘We taught him wrong, as a joke’.”

But while one reader chacemarket declared, “this is a reason why I love Toto so much, he seemingly cares so deeply for drivers, even one’s that aren’t current drivers for him”, another stated Nyck was moving into the “Toto’s home for wayward rookies”.

Toto Wolff and Nyck de Vries were seen at a café in Monaco today. 👀#F1 pic.twitter.com/aodVcPjgxT

— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) July 12, 2023

De Vries’ axing made him the latest in a long list of Red Bull junior drivers to have found their careers brutally cut short with his now former boss Helmut Marko suggesting a career in the World Endurance Championship for de Vries.

“[Another F1 seat] will be difficult, I think,” the 80-year-old told Dutch publication De Telegraaf.

“But at the same time, I do think he saw this coming. I think he can build a nice career in long-distance racing.”

The Race, though, is linking him to return to Formula E with de Vries a past champion.

“There appear to be two berths most likely for De Vries as it stands: Nissan or Maserati MSG,” reports the publication.

“Maserati is the team that De Vries was in line to race for in Formula E this season, only for AlphaTauri to snatch him away last September off the back of his points-scoring F1 debut at Monza with Williams” while “Nissan could have a free FE seat should it not renew Norman Nato’s deal this summer.”

Read next: Harsh or fair? Red Bull’s mid-season Nyck de Vries sacking analysed