Home » Health » Nick de Vries “I continued to participate in F1 for two years with nothing in return”[F1-Gate.com]

Nick de Vries “I continued to participate in F1 for two years with nothing in return”[F1-Gate.com]

Nick de Vries has 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 during the Italian Grand Prix weekend. The international media were impressed by De Vries’ performance at Williams.

Indeed, 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.

Having garnered much interest, the F1 team keen to hire Nick de Vries was AlphaTauri, and a deal was quickly signed. As Fernando Alonso’s successor to Aston Martin, Pierre Gasly wanted to move to the Alpine F1 team and all gears were in gear.

Following 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 unavailable.

Nick de Vries chose to sign for Mercedes and race in Formula E, where he also won the championship. In between racing in Formula E, he competed in several World Endurance Championship races for Racing Team Nederland. The team took its first win in the Fuji 6 Hours LMP2 class. De Vries brought the car across the line in the final stint.

However, Nick de Vries’ path to F1 was all but closed. While acknowledging that reserve drivers are rarely needed in F1, he had other goals in mind.

“But it was just about F1. I was in F1 for two years with nothing in return,” said Nick de Vries.

It wasn’t long after discussing his future with Mercedes that the phone rang saying 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 driving all weekend. That’s when I asked. Rice field”

Suddenly came the unexpected F1 debut of Nick de Vries. Alexander Albon succumbed to appendicitis and De Vries was ruled out for Williams at Monza on Saturday morning. It was later shown that it wasn’t easy.

Nick de Vries ended up exhausted. I sighed into the radio that my shoulder was dead and asked if anyone could help me out of the car. De Vries no longer had the strength to get out of the car by himself. Finally, a hasty crew from Williams helped him out of the car.

“It was pretty embarrassing,” recalls Nick de Vries.

“Physically speaking, Monza is the easiest circuit of the year. Then it was Singapore. Because it was

In the end Nick de Vries didn’t have to fight in Singapore, possibly the toughest Grand Prix of the season due to the heat and humidity.

Nick de Vries had a valid excuse for tiredness at Monza. The notification of the driver change came so late that Williams was unable to optimally adjust the car for De Vries. Also, modifications after passing qualifications 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.

Bookmark this entry Hatena

Category: F1 / Nick deVries / Alpha Taurus

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.