Nyck de Vries

A fine example of what is possible when a chance opportunity is grasped with both hands, Nyck de Vries has his point-scoring stand-in performance at Monza last season to thank for what will be his first full season competing in Formula 1 in 2023.

Indeed, while few in the know had ever doubted the credentials of de Vries - a title winner in Formula 2 and Formula E in 2019 and 2020-21 respectively - it took a last minute call up to replace appendicitis-stricken Alex Albon at Williams for the 2022 Italian Grand Prix to fortuitously put those talents under the nose of F1 bosses directly.

For many, de Vries’ appointment by AlphaTauri for the 2023 F1 World Championship season is belated justice for a driver that had been considered unfairly overlooked for a seat ever since he swept to the 2019 F2 title.

A prized member of the McLaren young driver programme from the age of 15, de Vries’ prestigious backing was validated by a series of titles in karting prior to his move into open-wheel racing.

Joining the roster of would-be F1 stars by winning the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 title in 2014, de Vries consolidated his burgeoning reputation with race-winning turns in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series and the GP3 Series in the following years.

The Dutchman made his F2 debut in 2017, starting the season with Rapax before switching to Racing Engineering part way through the season. Ending the year seventh overall, de Vries was picked up by Prema by Theodore Racing to defend its title following Charles Leclerc’s success the previous year.

However, despite achieving a trio of wins, de Vries was out-performed by title winner George Russell, Lando Norris and Alex Albon, each of whom earned a promotion to F1 instead.

Nevertheless, de Vries’ moment finally came in 2019 when - after succeeding Russell in the ART Grand Prix team - he waltzed comfortably to the title with four victories to his name.

With no F1 seats available for 2020, de Vries switched allegiance from McLaren to Mercedes to become both its F1 test driver and to head up its new Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team.

Debuting in 2019-20, de Vries and Mercedes’ relative lack of experience in the notoriously unpredictable series was tested further by a COVID-19-affected season punctuated by a huge six-month chasm between Round 5 and the ‘Super Six-race’ Round 6 finale in Berlin.

Though COVID-19 continued to wreak havoc with schedules into the 2020-21 season, de Vries and Mercedes EQ’s better steer on Formula E told as he kept his cool to emerge champion of Season 7.

Dovetailing his single-seater exploits with several creditable performances in sportscars - including strong finishes in the Le Mans 24 Hours - de Vries’ headline-grabbing debut with Williams subsequently thrust him to the forefront of the silly season driver rumours.

In the end, it was AlphaTauri that would win the race for his signature, de Vries making his full-time debut with the Red Bull-affiliated team for the 2023 F1 season.

Nyck de Vries, Williams Racing, the Williams team celebrate after securing points on race debut

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

2022 - Williams Racing

21st - 2 points [1 race]

With F1 rule-makers making it mandatory for teams to devote Friday free practice track time to drivers yet to start a grand prix, de Vries’ decorated junior record made him a popular approach among teams, with Mercedes, Aston Martin and Williams all enlisting his services.

It meant he was the obvious candidate for Williams to call upon ahead of qualifying at Monza after Albon was taken ill.

Having already completed a free practice session with Aston Martin, de Vries belied the eleventh hour call by proving quick enough to reach Q2 and qualify a provisional 15th.

Better still, with various drivers taking grid penalties for component changes, de Vries was the big beneficiary, soaring up the grid to eighth place for his debut grand prix.

Holding his nerve come race day, de Vries collected ninth at the flag to join an exclusive group of drivers - including Sebastian Vettel and Jean Alesi - to score points on their F1 debut mid-way through the season.