Nyck de Vries admits his exit from AlphaTauri “hurts” after speaking out for the first time since losing his seat in Formula 1. The Dutch driver, who impressed so highly in finishing ninth last year at Monza for Williams, struggled throughout the first 10 races of the 2023 season. Alongside Logan Sargeant at Williams, De Vries was the only driver yet to score a point and has been under increasing pressure from Red Bull chief Helmut Marko. And with Marko dropping De Vries, Daniel Ricciardo has stepped in to replace the Dutchman ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend and for the remainder of the 2023 season. “Of course it hurts the F1 chance I dreamed of for so long ended prematurely,” the 28-year-old said on Instagram. “After recent events, I decided to take some time for myself away from social media, which I will continue to do. I would like to thank Red Bull and Scuderia AlphaTauri for the opportunity to live my dream. “But life is not a destination, it’s a journey, and sometimes you have to take the hard road to get where you want to be. “I am grateful for our privileged lives, proud of our journey and my family. This is just another experience, we move on and look forward to the next chapter.” De Vries also addressed media articles in the past week purporting quotes from the axed driver, which he implied are not accurate given he hasn’t spoken to the press. “I received some interesting articles about things I’ve said in the last week,” he added. “For clarity, I haven’t spoken to any media and for the time being I’ll enjoy some me time. Wishing you all a nice summer.” De Vries, the 2019 F2 champion and 2021 Formula E champion, was on Mercedes’ books as a test driver before switching to Red Bull for his move to AlphaTauri. Read More Daniel Ricciardo is back - and this time he wants to go out on top Red Bull has handed Daniel Ricciardo the first step to Sergio Perez’s seat Daniel Ricciardo is back - and this time he wants to go out on top Daniel Ricciardo: I thought I’d never race in F1 again Sebastian Vettel hints at return to F1: ‘I have some ideas’