Nick de Vries has taken a look back at his career so far ahead of his F1 debut at AlphaTauri in 2023.
Mercedes F1 reserve driver Nick de Vries has been cleared to drive Alexander Albon’s car over the weekend of the Italian Grand Prix. The international media were impressed by De Vries’ performance at Williams.
In fact, Nick de Vries scored two points this weekend with a ninth-place finish and was named Driver of the Day, with several F1 teams keeping De Vries on their radar. was enough for
After garnering a lot of interest, the F1 team that was keen to hire Nick de Vries was AlphaTauri, and a deal was quickly signed. As a successor to Fernando Alonso who moved to Aston Martin, Pierre Gasly wanted to transfer to the Alpine F1 team, and all the gears were meshed.
After the 2018 F2 season, George Russell, Lando Norris and Alexander Albon were promoted to F1, but Nick de Vries finished fourth in the championship. A year later, De Vries won the F2 title, but it turned out that the F1 seat was not available.
Nick de Vries chose to sign for Mercedes and race in Formula E, where he also won the championship. Between his participation in Formula E, he competed in several races of the World Endurance Championship for Racing Team Nederland. The team achieved its first victory in the LMP2 class of the Fuji 6 Hours race. De Vries led the car to the finish line in the final stint.
Still, Nick de Vries’ path to F1 was all but closed. While recognizing that reserve drivers are rarely needed in F1, he had other goals in mind.
“But it was all about F1. I was in F1 racing for two years with nothing in return,” said Nick de Vries.
It wasn’t long after he had discussed his future with Mercedes that the phone rang that he would be racing for Williams.
“So I thought, ‘It’s very early.’ But they said, ‘It’s not about that right now.’ Then I was sent to Williams. I didn’t know you were going to drive all weekend. That’s when I asked. rice field”
Suddenly came Nick de Vries’ unexpected F1 debut. Alexander Albon succumbed to appendicitis and De Vries was ruled out for Williams at Monza on Saturday morning. It was later proved that it was not easy.
Nick de Vries finished exhausted. He sighed over the radio that his shoulder was dead and asked if anyone could help him out of the car. De Vries no longer had the strength to get out of the car on his own. Eventually, a rushing Williams crew helped him out of the car.
“It was kind of embarrassing,” recalls Nick de Vries.
“Physically speaking, Monza is the easiest circuit of the year. Next was Singapore. Because it was
Ultimately Nick de Vries didn’t have to fight in Singapore, perhaps the toughest Grand Prix of the season due to the heat and humidity.
Nick de Vries had a valid excuse for his fatigue at Monza. Notification of the driver change came so late that Williams was unable to optimally adjust the car for De Vries. Also, changes after passing the qualifying are prohibited.
“The steering wheel was actually too high for me, so the front of my shoulder was always active. After the safety car I couldn’t turn the wheel,” concluded Nick de Vries.
Category: F1 / Nick de Vries / Alpha Tauri