'Formula one is a brutal environment, you are always focused and alert, you never really turn off.' Nyck told the interviewer.
The camera shows Nyck spending time with his family at home.
'When you're home, you can finally flip the switch for a bit. Distract yourself from the constant pressure, I think it's really important.' Nyck said.
'I think even the greatest and most dominant drivers love the summer break. Behind the scenes contracts are being signed for next season which also gives some drivers certainty. Fans can enjoy the contract chaos whilst the drivers get a chance to breathe, if they have a contract of course.' Jennie Gow explained,
'I don't have a contract for next season yet, I've done everything I can, the rest is up to Red-Bull and Alpha Tauri.' Nyck said.
The camera looks at the sky as we listen to the following conversation.
Someone knocks on the door and then enters, it's a member from the team. He doesn't sit down but immediately gets to the point, telling Christian what's going on.
'He did what?' Christian asked seriously interrupting his team member mid sentence.
'If you or anyone else sees him tell him to get into my office immediately! He better have a very good excuse if he wants me to forgive him.' Christian said, obviously angered by what he heard.
'Yes sir.' The team member said before leaving Christian's office. Christian let his head fall in his hands, thinking about what could happen next.
'Mix carefully.' Nyck's sister told him.
'I am.' Nyck said with a smile carefully mixing. He then turned to the camera. 'We are testing the pancake recipe that Carlos Sainz keeps talking about.' He explained. A few seconds go by, Nyck carefully mixing everything together to make sure it stayed nice and fluffy. Then his phone goes off, his manager is calling. 'One second.' Nyck said before stepping out of the room and taking the call. The camera watches Nyck's sister as she continues mixing the dough whilst the following conversation is followed by audio.
'Hey mate, any news on options for next season?' Nyck asked curiously.
'He wants to speak privately?' Nyck asked.
'When?' He asked.
'Yeah sounds important, I'll go tomorrow then.' Nyck said. 'Yeah, bye.' Nyck walked back to the kitchen.
'Any news?' His sister asked.
'I don't know. He said Franz wants to speak with me personally, they asked if I can come to base tomorrow.' Nyck told his sister.
'Sounds important, let's hope it's good news.' She responded.
'I sure hope so too.' Nyck said a bit worried. 'Is the dough mixed?'
'Yes, I think it's ready to go into the pan.' She said.
'Alright!' Nyck said excitedly. The next shot shows Nyck putting the dough in the pan.
'Ooeee that does smell good.' His sister comments.
In the next shot the pancakes are served, Nyck's parents also at the table ready for a nice lunch.
'Feels weird eating pancakes as lunch. In the Netherlands we eat pancakes for dinner mostly.' Nyck explained.
'I mean, I eat it for lunch sometimes but yeah, it's more of a dinner thing here.' His sister said to the camera.
The pancakes got served and everyone started eating.
'Hmm Carlos was right, these don't need any syrup or powdered sugar at all.' Nyck commented.
'Hmmm, that is some delicious pancakes, you guys want some too?' Nyck's sister offered. A short shot shows the crew joining in and consuming Carlos's recipe pancakes and nodding showing they liked it very much. 'Best day at the job.' One of them commented.
The next day Nyck hugs his family goodbye before walking off into the airport, getting on a plane and flying to Italy, Alpha Tauri's home.
'Trying not to hype myself up too much, you never know why your boss wants you at base urgently so, we'll see what happens.' Nyck de vries said.
Nyck enters Alpha Tauri's building. The camera crew remaining outside. Nyck says hello to a few people before walking to Franz Tost's office.
Nyck knocks on the office door, he hears Franz say 'come in.' So he opens the door.
'Welcome Nyck, thank you for coming on such short notice.' Franz Tost said, shaking Nyck's hand. 'Take a seat.'
'So what is this about sir?' Nyck asked after he got comfortable in a chair.
'I've just been informed about a sudden change by Red-Bull.' Franz Tost said. 'Christian is also flying over here currently, he can give you more answers that I cannot give. I've only just received this news. You'll have to turn off that mic of yours for a minute though.'
The mic cuts out and it stays silent for a few seconds before Nyck walks out of the building, his emotions in overdrive and his face on thunder mode. The camera crew is hidden behind a wall filming Nyck from a distance.
'Hey, it's me.' Nyck said. 'No it did not go well.' He said.
'I can't say here in front of the camera's, but it's really bad.' Nyck said.
'Yeah, it's ridiculous. I'm speaking to Christian later today. I don't get it at all!' Nyck said, clearly upset. 'Yeah, I'll explain when I'm away from the camera's.'
Nyck hangs up the phone and gets in his car, driving away. Later that day Nyck met up with Christian privately, the camera crew staying at the hotel. Nyck comes back and sits down next to his bed, a true look of defeat on his face.
The screen goes dark for a few seconds. A sound of a tweet follows, and another, another, the screen is filled with tweets.
'Red-Bull have terminated my contract and have decided I will not be racing for them for the rest of the season.' Nyck de Vries told the interviewer.
'Absolutely no one saw this coming, this has put the entire CF1 community on its head.' Jennie Gow said.
'Nyck de Vries, whilst fighting for the championship, has been put in a reserve driver role. You cannot make this up.' Will Buxton said. 'Now everyone, including fans AND the other CF1 teams is just sitting here with only one question, why?'
'I asked Christian many times during our conversation where the issue lied, I never got an answer that gave me closure.' Nyck said. 'It's frustrating. You're sitting there like, is this my fault, did I do something wrong and what more should I have done? It truly made me doubt myself.'
'You'd think if Red-Bull fired a championship contender so abruptly they would jump to their socials and explain the extremely good reason they had to fire him. The socials were completely quiet. The longer it took the more fans were starting to look at each other like, this does not add up.' Will Buxton said.
'Online rumors started to spread, and the longer Red-Bull stayed silent for, the more people started to believe it and YouTubers started to give their own thoughts about the situation.' Jennie Gow said.
'For us it seemed pretty clear very quickly. Red-Bull were leading the constructors but in the drivers championship they were nowhere. P6 and p7. Nyck was carrying his team and one or two more good performances and Alpha Tauri would've overtaken Red-Bull. Red-Bull probably didn't want this and they got rid of the problem. More and more people believed this and started talking more and more, YouTubers joined in soon after. Some stayed neutral and waited for an actual answer from Red-Bull, others jumped on the hypetrain though which made the situation worse. If Red-Bull really fired Nyck because of this, this media problem had only made the problem worse for them.' Aarava, formula one content creator explained.
'So is it true, did you fire Nyck because of his results compared to yours?' The interviewer asked.
'Absolutely not.' Christian Horner responded immediately. 'Rumors are rumors until proven otherwise.'
'It was only after the summer break that Christian was interviewed and he suddenly said this.' Jennie Gow said.
'There was a problem with the contract that we couldn't get fixed right away, we are working with the FIA to fix that issue, but we couldn't get that fixed before the race.' Christian said.
'Everyone who heard this kinda gave it a side eye, the announcement from Alpha Tauri stated that Nyck wouldn't drive for the rest of the season, this made no sense.' Aarava said. 'Oh yeah, and Nyck de Vries was spending time with Oscar Piastri at the time of this statement, which lead to this legendary tweet.'
tweet noise*
Tweet from @NyckdeVries
"I understand that, without my agreement. Red-Bull have put out a press release late this afternoon that there was a contract issue. This is wrong and i did not have a contract issue with Red-Bull. I am not the one with the contract issue.'
'I don't think words can describe how angry those Red-Bull leaders were behind the scenes. I think this is truly where Nyck realized Red-Bull ruined him, so he let go.' Jennie Gow said.
'I think it's justified, his chances of being a rookie champion is ruined, but his amazing results probably get him an offer from every team, he probably has a lot of options for 2024.' Will Buxton said.
'Red-Bull really realized after this horribly backfired attempt at putting the matter to bed that they couldn't get away with not telling the truth, so they came out with the embarrassing truth.' Jennie Gow said.
'Helmut made a call without discussing it with me. By the time I knew what was going on * had already signed the contract. These changes cannot be reversed, that is completely me and my team's fault.' Christian Horner said to the press before walking away.
'Red-Bull were really in a tough position at this point. Of course they didn't want to throw Helmut under the buss, but because Nyck wouldn't let them get away with it they had to come clean and be honest. Now Red-Bull can only hope the meme and content creators get tired of this story quickly.' Jennie Gow said.
'The only plus really for Red-Bull is who they have in that Alpha Tauri seat now.' Will Buxton said with a smile.
'I'm back!' Daniel Ricciardo said excitedly to the camera as he slammed the film board for the sound crew.
'I saw Daniel drive and I knew, we have to get him back.' Helmut Marco said.
'Daniel Ricciardo, leaves Red-Bull at the end of 2018.' The DtS commentator said. 'After disappointing results with McLaren, Daniel has been let go from the team in favor of rookie Oscar Piastri, leaving Daniel without a seat.'
'It's been a very difficult few years for me. I definitely expected myself to be in a different place right now than I am now.' Daniel said. 'In 2023 I returned to Red-Bull as a reserve driver, now they've given me another shot in their junior team.'
'Daniel is very loved by Red-Bull. So much so they offered him the same salary as Max Verstappen back in 2018 to get him to stay. Daniel didn't take that deal and left. It's always felt like Daniel has remained part of the family though. His return as reserve driver has truly showed this team and Daniel are like father and son.' Chris Medland said.
'I'm very excited to get this opportunity to be back full time. I'm gonna do everything I can to get the best out of this opportunity. I'm sure I'm gonna have fun in the process as well.' Daniel said with the biggest smile the universe has ever seen.
'It sounds all fun and games for Daniel, but I'm certain he had to think twice before accepting this challenge. Because not only is this team of a level Daniel isn't used to. The pressure he is going to get to do better then Nyck did is huge. If Daniel under performs not only Daniel, but him, Alpha Tauri, AND Red-Bull are going to come under pressure for the choice they made to bring Daniel in.' Will Buxton said. 'This move from Red-Bull could truly mean the end of Alpha Tauri's good form.'
'One thing is for sure. Daniel still has a lot to prove to the world if he wants to make this return a successful one.'
"Let's kick some *.' Daniel said before both him and the crew burst into laughter.'
UP NEXT IN DRIVE TO SURVIVE:
'Guenther Steiner will not remain with the team for 2024.' Gene Haas said.
This weekend has caused people to get a lot of questions about what is making some cars like Nico and Mick's so fast all of a sudden?' Chris Medland said
'They can't do this to me Gene.' Guenther Steiner said. 'Finally we get some good results and now the FIA is complaining. * *.'
'Times are tough for Valterri.' Will Buxton said.
'I'm gonna do everything I can get to get that seat.' Valterri Bottas said.