Nyck de Vries, who impressed many in the Formula 1 paddock with his points-scoring one-off performance for Williams in the Italian Grand Prix, has been handed a full-time drive for next season.
The 27-year-old, who has previously been backed by McLaren and Mercedes, will drive for Red Bull’s junior team AlphaTauri.De Vries won the Formula E world championship last year and was Formula 2 champion in 2019. He made his grand prix debut in September at the Italian Grand Prix, taking over Alexander Albon car on Saturday after the team’s regular was hospitalised with appendicitis. De Vries finished eighth, equalling Williams’ best result of the season.
AlphaTauri initially announced Gasly would remain alongside Yuki Tsunoda in its line-up for 2023. However Red Bull has decided to release Gasly, whose hopes of returning to the top team were dashed when Sergio Perez signed a new deal with them earlier this year. Gasly will therefore join Alpine next year, leaving a vacancy at his current team.
De Vries said he is “extremely excited” by the chance to finally make his full-time F1 debut. “I want to thank both Red Bull and the team for giving me the opportunity to drive in F1,” he said.
“After Formula 2, I took a slightly different path with motorsport, but F1 has always been my dream and I’m grateful to be able to fulfil it. I’ve had a lot of chances to experience the 2022 car this year and I think that has put me in a great position for the upcoming season, I hope this has helped to prepare me for what is to come.”
He had the rare opportunity of driving for four different F1 teams this year. On the same weekend he made his race outing for Williams at Monza De Vries also drove for Aston Martin in first practice. He previously appeared for Mercedes in practice at the French Grand Prix, driving Lewis Hamilton’s car and tested for Alpine in Hungary in August.
AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost said they are “pleased to start a new chapter with Nyck, who’s very much welcome at Scuderia AlphaTauri.
“He is a very high skilled driver, as he won in all the categories he competed in, with many races and championships under his belt. His last big success was winning the Formula E World Championship, and this is clear evidence that he is a very competitive driver, who deserves a seat in F1.”
AlphaTauri’s hiring of De Vries’ appointment means another F2 champions will race be on the grid next year. McLaren has hired Oscar Piastri to drive for them in 2023. This year’s F2 champion, Felipe Drugovich, has joined Aston Martin’s driver development programme.
View the current list of 2023 F1 drivers and teams
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bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
8th October 2022, 1:12
Really happy for him – he’s deserved this for a while.
Shimks (@shimks)
8th October 2022, 10:47
Yes, finally! I think he will do very well. So weel, in fact, that I think it will probably be Tsunoda being replaced next year.
ykiki (@ykiki)
8th October 2022, 1:31
Logan Sargeant in at Williams?
Jere (@jerejj)
8th October 2022, 5:23
@ykiki If he becomes SL-eligible.
ykiki (@ykiki)
8th October 2022, 6:07
True, while he is in a great position with 1 round to go, it’s not a given.
Olivier
8th October 2022, 14:35
Perhaps we will see Ricciardo on loan at Williams, as part of his new role as a Mercedes AMG reserve driver?! Not joking.
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
8th October 2022, 1:40
Red Bull have four seats in Formula 1.
Not a single one of which will be filled with a driver from their own junior program come 2023.
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
8th October 2022, 3:49
@proesterchen Emm…Tsunoda? Verstappen?
Yaru (@yaru)
8th October 2022, 4:03
Good point actualy.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
8th October 2022, 4:39
Some people insist verstappen doesn’t come from the red bull driver program – I disagree as he’s been in toro rosso before moving to red bull.
Jere (@jerejj)
8th October 2022, 5:24
@esploratore1 True, even if he only were in the program briefly.
BasCB (@bascb)
8th October 2022, 6:42
Well, but Verstappen really had no ties to Red bull at all until he got the Torro Rosso drive @wsrgo, @esploratore, so by your defenition De Vries would now also be part of the Red Bull junior program (as would Tsunoda be) simply by joining their junior F1 team AT.
But clearly De Vries’ career, nor Tsunodas or Verstappens has been build up, financed and coached by Red Bull before F1, unlike a group of other drivers who Red Bull have in lower tier series like F2 and unlike Gasly, Ricciardo, Kvyat, Sainz (until he went to Renault) etc. who are and were part of the Red Bull driver program/driver academy,
Mashiat (@mashiat)
8th October 2022, 7:38
@bascb So Tsunoda racing in F3 and F2 in Red Bull colours was just a figment of my imagination?
petebaldwin (@)
8th October 2022, 10:52
True although in all fairness, Verstappen is a bit of a weird case. They picked him up pretty early in his career – it’s just they didn’t they give him a junior career. They stuck him straight in at Alpha Tauri. If after on season in F3, they’d picked him up, given him 2 or 3 seasons in the junior categories and the put him in F1, there wouldn’t really be any question about it.
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
8th October 2022, 12:34
True. The Verstappens wouldn’t have signed with Red Bull if that had been the plan.
BasCB (@bascb)
8th October 2022, 22:12
Exactly @proesterchen, the reason Verstappen signed with Red Bull instead of Mercedes was that RB was able to offer an F1 seat immediately instead of a year later
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
8th October 2022, 6:28
Over half the grid in F1 either was in the programme, or drove for either Red Bull F1 team in the past.
Hosford90
8th October 2022, 7:51
Do you ever once, even briefly, vaguely attempt to engage your brain before speaking?
Minardi (@gitanes)
8th October 2022, 4:30
Hoping that best for him, but to me he’s a bit overhyped since Monza. If he was really that good he’d have done a little more with the Prema season in F2 and would have been a little more consistent in FE against Vandoorne, who, let’s face it, routinely beat him for the most part. Not to say he won’t have his days, but Monza is sort of a specialist track. I think this is more a case of Red Bull really wanting to unload him and try something else regardless if it was Herta or DeVries or what. Time will tell though.
Jere (@jerejj)
8th October 2022, 5:25
Equally as expected.
Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
8th October 2022, 5:50
I just love that this drive has happened because of Alex Albon’s appendix. Great little future factoid.
RandomMallard
8th October 2022, 12:43
@rdotquestionmark Reminds me of Schumacher getting his chance because Bertrand Gachot was thrown in prison for assaulting a taxi driver!
HJ
8th October 2022, 6:43
Good! Congrats to Nyck!
Matthijs (@matthijs)
8th October 2022, 6:44
He will most likely add Alpha Tauri to that tally and maybe even Red Bull in the closing Young Driver test. Five or six different teams in one year, that must be a record?
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
8th October 2022, 8:16
Can we add him to the list of drivers Alpine’s lost in 2022?
x303 (@x303)
8th October 2022, 8:21
Nyck was knoking on doors for years and nobody wanted to see him. Now, suddenly, he’s the hottest driver on the market. This to me proves that teams are not those almighty entites with all the data that on make educated decisions. They should have signed him earlier.
jff
8th October 2022, 13:36
I still don’t expect even Red Bull to see him as the next Verstappen, Vettel, Hamilton, or Alonso.
But he might prove to be the perfect future fit for the second RBR seat.
All what’s missing is Heineken buying the whole Red Bull enterprise.
Electroball76
8th October 2022, 8:25
“AlphaTauri’s hiring of De Vries’ appointment means another F2 champions will race be on the grid next year.”
2 styles for the price of one! :-)
F1 frog (@f1frog)
8th October 2022, 9:24
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVYk67oNpLI
He’s finally made it!