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Nyck de Vries is an exceptional driver, but unfortunately, his timing couldn’t have been more ill-fated when he emerged as the F2 champion.
World Championships 🏆
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Races 🚦
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Podium Places🥈
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Debut Race 🏎️
11th September 2022
The Dutchman finally got his big break when he stepped in for an unavailable Alex Albon at the 2022 Monza Grand Prix. The 2023 F1 season is his official ‘rookie season’ and we can’t wait to see how it unfolds.
A Long-Term Reserve Role for the Ducthman
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De Vries had the luxury of having plenty of experience, provided by Mercedes, prior to jumping into his first F1 weekend. He took Alex Albon’s free practice session at Williams, a Mercedes customer team for the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix, then sat in for Lewis Hamilton’s first practice session in France, and then jumped in George Russell’s Mercedes for another practice session in Brazil.
The Big Italian Breakthrough
The Dutchman was yet again in another free practice session, this time for Mercedes customer team Aston Martin, garnering more experience for when he would finally make it. Fortunately for him, that Monza weekend would present him with his first F1 grand prix. Alex Albon had a case of appendicitis and was ruled out for the weekend. Fortunately for Williams, they had Nyck, who had already completed one practice session, though it was for Aston Martin.
Nyck was quickly drafted in for a one-off appearance. He made his mark in qualifying, almost getting through to Q3 and outqualifying his much more experienced teammate Nicholas Latifi. He started the race on the fourth row due to the drivers around him getting grid penalties. The supersub held his ground to finish with a very impressive P9 getting him his first points in F1.
He would match his teammate Nicholas Latifi’s entire season point tally with those 2 points he earned in Monza.
A Small-Town Upbringing In Netherlands
De Vries was born on February 6, 1995, in a village in the Netherlands with fewer than 400 inhabitants called Uitwellingerga. His father worked as a proprietor at a car dealership company before becoming Nyck’s manager. Nyck’s sister was briefly involved with Mercedes superstar George Russel.
His Content-Creating Partner
Nyck is in a relationship with Eva Bruggenwirth, who is a content creator for the jewelry brand Anna+ Nina. No confirmation has been found as to when the pair officially started dating.
His Not-So-Rookie Wages
No official figures of his net worth have been made known to the public. Some reports suggest that Nyck made around 800,000 USD a season in Formula E and had a bonus of 200,000 USD for each FP1 session he took part in from Mercedes.
He shouldn’t be buying any personal jets yet, though, as the AlphaTauri team are known to pay a relatively modest salary to rookie drivers. Nyck has multiple sponsorship deals with the likes of Tommy Hilfiger and SAP to supplement his ‘modest’ wages. His personal net worth is estimated to be around $5 million.
- Full name: Hendrik Johannes Nicasius “Nyck” de Vries
- DOB: 6th February 1995
- Age: 28
- Place of Birth: Uitwellingerga, Netherlands
- Nationality: Dutch
- Team: Scuderia AlphaTauri F1 Team
- Race number: #21
The Long Winding Path To F2
Nyck’s path to F1 has certainly been bumpy. He started karting at the age of 5 and amassed his karting accolades until 2011, when he won the Karting World Championship twice in a row.
He made the jump into the Formula Renault Eurocup the next year and spent 2 seasons there before winning it. He made successive jumps to F2 where he once again had to wait for his third season to emerge as a champion in a relatively weaker field.
The Formule E Stint Prior To F1
No seat could be found for the 2019 F2 champion, and he was forced to spend a season racing for the Mercedes Benz EQ team in Formula E. He finished 11th in the driver’s championship that season, while his teammate Stoffel Vandoorne went on to win the championship.
The following season, Nyck seemed revitalized. He was determined to be noticed by the ‘big guys’ over at Formula One. He emerged from a tough, season-long battle to win the 2020 Formula E title by 7 points.
Still, he was unable to find a permanent role in F1 and stuck to his junior driver role at Mercedes. He spent a third season in Formula E, where he finished 9th come the end of the season, but that result didn’t matter anymore come the end of the season as his Monza showing was mighty impressive, and he signed a contract with AlphaTauri for 2024 and beyond.
What’s In Store for the 2023 F1 Season for Nick
The pressure will mainly be on Nyck’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who is now entering his 3rd season with the Red Bull sister team. The Japanese driver knows that his time is running out and that the AlphaTauri team aren’t liberal with the time they give to rookies before replacing them. Looking at Nyck’s track record, it is safe to say that it will take him at least a season or two to adjust to the glitz, glamour, and grit of Formula One, but Helmut Marko is an impatient man who is unhappy with Nyck’s performances and his already given him an ultimatum to either improve his performances or perish.
The Baptism of Fire
Nyck’s first weekend as a full-time F1 driver was nothing short of a baptism of fire. He qualified for P19 four places behind teammate Yuki, who made it to Q2 by the skin of his teeth but failed to advance any further in the extremely tight field. Nyck had a decent race and was able to make up five places. He was only 2 places behind his teammate, who finished P11. All in all, it was a very good opening weekend for someone’s rookie season (technically).
Uneventful Jeddah Weekend
Both the AlphaTauris were knocked out in Q1, with Nyck mustering a P18 while Yuki bagged a P16. A couple of retirements aided his race, and he finished 14th in a rather uneventful race.
Mayhem in Melbourne
Nyck managed to reach his first Q2 session of the year in Melbourne but was the slowest of all Q2 runners when the flag fell. He was one of the last cars to make his pit stop, and he switched to the soft and, as a result, was dead last before the red flag. He was hampered in the post-red-flag restart and had to restart after a collision with Estaban Ocon.
Shaky Baku Weekend
Nyck was out of Q1 after locking up at turn 3 and crashing into the barriers. His suspension suffered huge damage, and the rest of the weekend was hampered as a result.The sprint day didn’t do him any favours; he was unable to make any passes in sprint qualifying, and even though he made it up to P14 from P20 in the sprint race, there were no fruits for his labour. Nyck retired on lap 10 of the feature race after clipping the wall at turn 5 and coming to a halt at turn 6.
Outing in Miami
Nyck made it to his second Q2 session of the year in Miami and outqualified his teammate in the process. Raceday was not as smooth, though; he was involved in an incident with the McLaren of Lando Norris and crossed the checkered flag at P18.
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