Despite having previously won the Formula E and Formula 2 titles, Formula 1 teams decided to overlook Nyck de Vries when sorting their driver lineups for a number of years.
The Dutchman had been building experience by working as Mercedes’ test driver but as the seasons continued to pass, teams continued to ignore De Vries.
A number of rookies who had performed worse in F2 such as Yuki Tsunoda and Nikita Mazepin had been given a chance in F1, causing De Vries to lose hope.
Everything changed in Monza last year however, as De Vries stunned the world on his F1 debut with Williams, having been drafted in at short notice to stand in for the hospitalised Alex Albon.
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The 28-year-old scored points in arguably the slowest car on the grid, turning him from a forgotten prospect to the hottest property in F1.
The Dutch eventually signed for AlphaTauri ahead of the upcoming season and De Vries has now admitted that he had begun to think that his time in F1 would never come.
“I thought many times it would never happen,” De Vries told RacingNews365.com.
“But at the same time, I was not prepared to give up on my dream, and one or two percent of hope is enough to keep going. Until your chances are really zero, then you’re still in it.
“With where my career was going, and how Mercedes was withdrawing from Formula E, the Hypercar gaining momentum, I was just in a position where I was able to kind of keep all the options and opportunities open.
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“It was not always easy, but I always knew that this is ultimately what I wanted.”
The dynamic at AlphaTauri will be a strange one this season, as De Vries will still technically be considered a rookie at the age of 28, while his 22-year-old teammate Yuki Tsunoda has two seasons of experience.
With De Vries bringing a lot of knowledge from his time at Mercedes to AlphaTauri, the team will hope for better fortunes this year than last season, when they limped to a ninth-place finish.