He was watching the Formula 3 race at Monza with a cappuccino in his hands when he got a phone call. Would he please report to the Williams team with racing overalls and helmet immediately. Regular driver Alexander Albon was struck down by acute appendicitis and as reserve driver for engine supplier Mercedes, the choice had now fallen on him.
It was an unexpected debut for Nyck de Vries, in Italy at the beginning of September. He didn’t have much time to prepare. After all, it was already Saturday morning when his phone rang, giving the 27-year-old driver from Friesland only one free practice time to get used to the Williams FW44 and figure out what all the buttons on the steering wheel were for.
All the more handsome was that he qualified ahead of his experienced team-mate Nicholas Latifi. Due to a series of penalties for other drivers, he started the race in eighth place on Sunday. He eventually lost one spot, but finished the race neatly in ninth. With that, De Vries immediately scored two World Cup points, while Latifi (flagged as fifteenth) has been at zero all season.
driver’s carousel
De Vries was already shortlisted by a number of teams for 2023, but his performance in Monza further increased his market value. The formal announcement that he will play for AlphaTauri, Red Bull’s B-team next year, is therefore the logical conclusion of a period in which his name was increasingly mentioned.
Ultimately, De Vries owes his seat to a driver’s carousel that started with Sebastian Vettel. For several years now, the German has been no longer a shadow of the violent man who became world champion four times in a row at Red Bull, but could not repeat that success at Ferrari and Aston Martin. His decision to retire after this season set the dominoes in motion.
Vettel’s replacement at Aston Martin was two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, who left Alpine. The French formation thought it had a replacement in Oscar Piastri, the 2021 Formula 2 champion and the apple of the Alpine academy’s eye. However, the Australian had other ideas and signed with McLaren, forcing Alpine to look for another driver.
That eventually became the Frenchman Pierre Gasly, with which another seat became available at AlphaTauri next to the young Japanese Yuki Tsunoda. AlphaTauri wanted to capture American talent Colton Herta, but despite seven IndyCar victories to his name, he did not receive a super license. Are you still following it? Long story short: the setback for Herta was De Vries’ luck.
Detour
With that, he now ends up in the same Red Bull family as Max Verstappen, who also started his Formula 1 career with the drinks manufacturer’s junior team. The road to the premier class, however, took significantly longer for De Vries than for Verstappen, who made his debut at the age of 17. De Fries needed a few detours but has now arrived where he, as he did in 2018 NRC said, belongs.
Interview with Nyck de Vries (2018): “I am one hundred percent Formula 1 worthy”
For example, the race weekend in Monza proved that Nyck de Vries is a better driver than Latifi. But those who have been following him for a while already knew that. In 2019 he won the Formula 2 title, with the Canadian being his main opponent. The point was that it was already his third season in the class, and the opposition was significantly less than in previous years.
Just think: in 2018, as a sophomore, De Vries had to give in to rookies George Russell and Lando Norris, who are now making waves at Mercedes and McLaren in Formula 1. Moreover, in Formula 2 he had a reputation that he sometimes struggled. had to keep his tires in good condition.
Add to that the fact that, unlike Latifi, for example, De Vries had little to offer financially to Formula 1 teams, and a disappointing career progress was evident. For a long time he seemed to join Davide Valsecchi and Fabio Leimer, as one of the few Formula 2 champions who never made it to Formula 1.
Plenty of opportunities
But De Vries switched. He earned a factory contract with Mercedes, was allowed to race in the Formula E electric racing class and became the first Dutch world champion in motorsport there in the 2020-21 season. He also gained experience in endurance racing and took part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans several times. He made an immediate impression at an IndyCar test in America, but De Vries held off that boat.
After all, his employment at Mercedes also earned him a reserve role in Formula 1. Toto Wolff, the big boss at Mercedes, indicated that he would like to help De Vries with a race seat if possible. Now the time has come and de Nyck de Vries who will join AlphaTauri is a much more complete driver than the driver who won the Formula 2 title in 2019.
There are plenty of opportunities for more next year. Teammate Tsunoda is sometimes fast, but still has many doubters on his side. Behind that, it is still sparse in terms of Red Bull talents. Formula 2 drivers Dennis Hauger and Liam Lawson still have more to show, while the very young Frenchman Isack Hadjar from Formula 3 is not yet ready for the bigger work.
In short, De Vries knows what he has to do in 2023. If he applies his ample experience well and beats Tsunoda by heart, new opportunities will open up. Who knows, the Dutch race fans may even see a Double Dutch at Red Bull Racing.