Last year, it appeared that Mercedes test driver Nyck de Vries’ Formula 1 dream was all but over, as the 28-year-old continued to be overlooked for a race seat despite previously winning the Formula 2 and Formula E championships.
This all changed in Monza, however, as the Dutchman stood in at Williams for the hospitalised Alex Albon, finishing in a stunning ninth place despite driving arguably the slowest car on the grid.
This performance made De Vries hot property and after many teams expressed interest in the Dutchman, he signed for AlphaTauri to replace the Alpine-bound Pierre Gasly.
Despite being 28 years of age, the 2023 season will be De Vries’ first in F1, meaning that he has gathered the majority of his racing experience in other categories, something with AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost sees as a positive.
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“He is a driver who is bringing a lot of experience with him, experience not only from the driving but as well from the technical side,” he said via RacingNews365.com.
“If you have young drivers in the car, especially nowadays with these quite complicated F1 cars.
“It’s important to have someone with more experience, someone who won in the different categories, races and championships. Therefore he is for sure, a big win for the team.”
AlphaTauri really struggled under the new regulations last season, finishing in ninth place despite being a strong midfield team the year before.
The team are expected to be a lot more competitive this season however, leading Tost to set De Vries a number of targets for his rookie year.
“Nyck should just be concentrated to do the best possible job in our car,” he said.
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“I hope that we can provide him with a car, which he deserves, namely, to be all the time in qualifying three and to score as many points as possible.”
It has even been rumoured that should De Vries impress during his time with AlphaTauri, he could make the step up to partner his friend and fellow countryman Max Verstappen at Red Bull.
With Sergio Perez’s contract up at the end of 2024, De Vries joins Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris as the reported candidates to replace the Mexican.