Mercedes would be happy to have Nyck de Vries back as reserve driver

Mercedes is open to the possibility of reuniting with former reserve driver Nyck de Vries following his dismissal from AlphaTauri.

The FIA Formula 2 and Formula E champion was let go by the Red Bull team after only ten races into his rookie F1 season, with Daniel Ricciardo taking his place.

According to Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko, de Vries failed to deliver any outstanding performances, struggling to match his teammate Yuki Tsunoda's pace.

While de Vries ponders his future prospects, Mercedes F1 engineering director Andrew Shovlin stated that the 28-year-old Dutch driver would be "welcomed" back at Brackley in a reserve capacity.

However, Shovlin believes that de Vries would likely prefer a return to a prominent race seat rather than accepting a less prominent role.

"I think Nyck will be looking for more than just to become a simulator driver so he'll want to be doing racing," Shovlin told Motorsport.com

"I've only spoken to him by text, and he said he'll let me know how his plans are coming on.

"He was certainly very useful for us in that role and would be welcome to get him back in that role. But I suspect his focus will be on finding race seats.

"If it's not in Formula 1, in some other big and competitive series. He's clearly very talented: an F2 champion, a Formula E champion, which is a very difficult series to win.

"He'll be looking back to get into a winning seat again."