Nyck de Vries has shown the best GP debut of a Formula 1 driver since Felipe Nasr in Australia in 2015 (5th), the Dutchman was 9th in Monza. Not even Max Verstappen managed such a start.
In Monza, Nyck de Vries became the 17th Dutchman to compete in a Grand Prix as part of the Formula 1 World Championship. The Williams driver finished a great ninth, making him the sixth driver in his country to score points, after Count Carel de Beaufort, Le Mans winner Gijs van Lennep, Jos Verstappen, Christijan Albers and world champion Max Verstappen.
At 1.67m, De Vries gets a lot of praise, and rightly so: since Brazilian Felipe Nasr finished fifth with Sauber in Australia in 2015, no GP rookie has done better than Nyck de Vries! Carlos Sainz and Yuki Tsunoda, like de Vries, finished ninth in the first Grand Prix.
Nyck de Vries thus made an even better debut than superstar Max Verstappen, who did not finish his first Grand Prix in Melbourne in 2015, but then scored points in his second outing in Malaysia (7th place).
Before de Vries, only 19 drivers had scored points in the first race in the past 25 years.
This led us to ask: What has become of the successful GP newcomers? What are the best results you were able to get later? Here is the answer from the past 27 years.
The best rookie GPs: what became of them
1996: Jacques Villeneuve (CDN), Melbourne, 2.
Later highlight: World Champion 1997, 11 GP victories
1999: Pedro de la Rosa (E), Melbourne, 6.
Later highlight: 2nd in Hungary 2006, WC-11. 2006
2001: Kimi Räikkönen (FIN), Melbourne, 6.
Later highlight: World Champion 2007, 21 GP victories
2002: Mark Webber (AUS), Melbourne, 5th
Later highlight: 9 GP wins, WM-3. 2010, 2011, 2013
2004: Timo Glock (D), Montreal, 7.
Subsequent highlight: 2nd in Hungary 2008 and Singapore 2009, WC-10. 2008 and 2009
2005: Tonio Liuzzi (I), Imola, 8.
Later highlight: 6th in China 2007, WC-15. 2010
2006: Nico Rosberg (D), Bahrain, 7.
Later highlight: World Champion 2016, 21 GP victories
2007: Lewis Hamilton (GB), Melbourne, 3.
Subsequent highlight: World Champion 2008, 2014/2015, 2017-2020, 103 GP wins
2007: Sebastian Vettel (D), Indianapolis, 8.
Subsequent highlight: World Champion 2010-2013, 53 GP wins
2008: Sebastien Bourdais (F), Melbourne, 7.
Subsequent highlight: 7th in Australia and Belgium 2008, WC-17. 2008
2009: Sebastian Buemi (CH), Melbourne, 7.
Subsequent highlight: 7th in Australia and Australia 2009, WC-15. 2011
2011: Paul Di Resta (GB), Melbourne, 10.
Subsequent highlight: 4th in Singapore 2012 and Bahrain 2013, WC-12. 2013
2014: Kevin Magnussen (DK), Melbourne, 2.
Later highlight: 2nd in Australia 2014, WC-9. 2018
2014: Daniil Kvyat (RU), Melbourne, 9.
Later highlight: 2nd in Hungary 2015, WC-7. 2015
2015: Felipe Nasr (BR), Melbourne, 5.
Subsequent highlight: 5th in Australia 2015, WC-13. 2015
2015: Carlos Sainz (E), Melbourne, 9.
Later highlight: 1 GP win, WM-5. 2021
2016: Stoffel Vandoorne (B), Bahrain, 10.
Subsequent highlight: 7th in Singapore and Malaysia 2017, WC-16. 2017 and 2018
2021: Yuki Tsunoda (J), Bahrain, 9.
Later highlight: 4th in Abu Dhabi 2021, WC-14. 2021
2022: Guanyu Zhou (RCH), Bahrain, 10.
Subsequent highlight: 8th in Canada 2022
2022: Nyck de Vries (NL), Italy, 9.