F1 world champion Max Verstappen has praised Nick de Vries for his impressive debut at last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.
Nick de Vries was called up to Williams on Saturday morning to replace Alexander Albon, who was diagnosed with appendicitis. After a superb performance in qualifying to advance to Q2, he crossed the line in ninth place and scored two championship points.
Nick de Vries has been heavily linked with a full-time F1 seat for 2023, which has left a strong impact on the F1 paddock.
Nick de Vries’ performance at Monza impressed race-winning fellow Dutchman Max Verstappen, who started alongside him on the fourth row of the grid.
“I could see him defending tenth place and fighting in front of me at the time,” said Verstappen.
“For Nick to jump in and have this performance, you know, it’s definitely not going to be easy at all.”
“From what I’ve seen, I think he did a great job on defense as well.”
“He kept his cool and didn’t make a mistake. I’m very happy that he scored the points. Of course it’s impressive to achieve that in the first race.”
Max Verstappen has revealed that he advised Nick de Vries before the start of the Grand Prix last Sunday. Verstappen, 24, is younger than De Vries, 27, but senior in F1.
“First of all, I told him to have fun, not think too much, not stress too much,” said Verstappen.
“I remember the first time…everything happened very quickly, but a lot of it might have been telling myself to wait and see what happened instead of actually being stressed.”
“We need a good start. We need a good first lap. Of course, I think he handled everything well.”
“But it’s great. We know each other very well, so it was just a quick little motivational speech.”
Category: F1 / Max Verstappen / Nick de Vries