Why de Vries' F1 practice debut could add a new path to his current crossroads

It’s frankly bizarre that the Spanish Grand Prix’s opening free practice session will be Nyck de Vries’ first taste of an official Formula 1 session. Having seemingly been on the precipice of F1 for years, and a frequent attendee of races in his capacity as one of Mercedes’ nominated reserves, de Vries will be belatedly assuming driving duties for Williams in FP1 in place of Alex Albon. It’s been a long time coming.

For those less acquainted with de Vries’ racing career, especially those reticent to stray too far from F1, de Vries is Formula E’s reigning champion. He’s also the all-electric championship’s most recent winner, after treating the Berlin crowds in attendance at the Tempelhof Airport to a masterclass in opportunism and race management.

From third on the grid, de Vries sent his Mercedes Silver Arrow 02 on express delivery down the inside of polesitter Edoardo Mortara into the first corner, coming up for air with the lead successfully wrestled away from the Swiss driver. From there, de Vries controlled everything to perfection. Like a ship captain on calm waters, he was a paragon of serenity, keeping his battery temperatures, tyres and energy levels in check while crucially remaining quick and consistent.

That’s the kind of driver de Vries has become in his maturity, albeit still with an aggressive streak in close-quarters combat. But he remains a driver that Formula 1 has slept on.

A former McLaren F1 junior, de Vries won the Formula Renault 2.0 title in 2014 ahead of a promotion to Formula Renault 3.5 - a big jump in terms of power and pace. Before that, de Vries had entered the public motorsport domain as McLaren’s big hope for the future – and even turned his hand to voice acting in the team’s highly-memeable Tooned series in 2012.

“It was fun to do!” de Vries laughs. “I'll never forget that. I went to the studio in London with Ron [Dennis] and I was what, 17, 16? And so we did this and I was in my suit as I always was at the time.

“When I had to do the voiceover for the videos I was starring in, you obviously have to create some emotions. And I had to kind of run, jump and in front of a mic to get some sense of emotions, while being in a suit and 16 years old - and having a very important gentleman watching me who's partly in control of your career! So yeah, it was a fun experience.”

De Vries claimed his second win of the 2022 Formula E season in Berlin last weekend

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

For a first tilt at the 3.5 championship in 2015, a third place overall wasn’t too bad, but proceedings had been largely dominated by Ollie Rowland and Matthieu Vaxiviere as de Vries managed a single win at the Jerez season finale. Arguably, his next move was a bit of a backwards step; de Vries was nudged towards a GP3 seat with ART but was unable to join his team-mates Charles Leclerc and Albon in the battle for the title.

De Vries, who had been touted as McLaren’s next been thing, perhaps watched his reputation take a hit after that season. Thus, Formula 2 with the unfancied Rapax squad was the perfect place to rebuild his form, and a good first part of the season in 2017 there – before trading seats with Racing Engineering’s Louis Deletraz halfway through the year – brought him to Prema for 2018.

Then billed as the tongue-twisting “Pertamina Prema Theodore Racing” thanks to the Indonesian rupiahs brought to the team by F2 veteran Sean Gelael, the Italian powerhouse squad was coming off the back of two consecutive drivers’ titles. De Vries had a lot of pressure on his shoulders to deliver, exacerbated by a grid brimming with quality.

"Our industry is all about winning. And that's what I'm living for as well. So sometimes that comes at the cost of remembering to enjoy the moment. But I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing" Nyck de Vries

It was a year that ebbed and flowed among the key title-challenging triumvirate of George Russell, Lando Norris and Albon; de Vries was consistently among them, but Prema had slightly lost its edge with the new, troubled 2018 car. ART, DAMS and Carlin had simply worked out the demands of the F2 2018 machinery better and, by this time, McLaren had put its money on the Norris horse within its junior set-up.

De Vries, a Ron Dennis protégé, was kept in the fold until the first half of 2019. Electing to remain in F2 as Norris moved into F1 with McLaren, de Vries sauntered to the title with ART – soundly beating main title rival Nicholas Latifi. But Latifi got the move to F1 with Williams, then struggling for finance and in desperate need of the Canadian’s considerable backing.

Although he’d done everything in his power to try and grease the wheels for a move to F1, de Vries couldn’t find an opportunity to move up. Regardless, among that success, de Vries explains that his 2019 season was one of his most treasured times in racing – and admits that he wished he’d savoured the experience more.

“I'm going to sound like an old man,” de Vries tells Autosport. “In 2019, I had a great season with ART, and it was probably one of my most enjoyable seasons to date. Not only delivering and succeeding, but also with the whole team and the whole atmosphere. Racing was central, and that was where we were living for. And that was all that mattered. And there was not so much around the racing, if you like.

Joining ART for his third season of Formula 2, de Vries blitzed the field to win the 2019 title

Photo by: Joe Portlock / Motorsport Images

“In hindsight, I just would have liked to maybe enjoy the process a little bit more. Not only because I think in ‘19, I actually did, but just from a young age. Basically, I'm always living in the present and thinking forward. And that's kind of human in a competitive world. But when you then suddenly take a step back, and you think back five or 10 years down the line, and I think what I’ve been able to live through and race and experience, sometimes I just wish I enjoyed the moment a little bit more.

“You're always here ultimately for performance; you want to win, and our industry is all about winning. And that's what I'm living for as well. So sometimes that comes at the cost of remembering to enjoy the moment. But I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing. As long as you have some kind of awareness there, then that's fine.”

His F2 success brought him to Formula E with Mercedes. The COVID-hit 2019-20 season was an opportunity for de Vries to learn the ropes, paired with fellow former-McLaren product Stoffel Vandoorne, before the Frieslander ended a closely contested 2020-21 with a title victory.

Now, with Mercedes due to depart the championship as McLaren takes over the team’s entry for 2022-23, de Vries sits at a crossroads. Aside from Formula E, de Vries has been racing in LMP2 and conducting testing duties for Toyota’s Hypercar squad. He did an IndyCar test with Meyer Shank – a test that led team principal Michael Shank to conclude that de Vries was “very, very good” as he topped the times, and thus has been considering his next move.

“Through Formula 2, I already started to combine it a little bit with endurance racing,” de Vries explained of his decision to explore different genres. “I'm very happy that I've chosen to do it and that Racing Team Netherlands gave me the opportunity to do it. It just gives you a slightly broader perspective, and it also gives you the opportunity to learn slightly different approaches and a slightly different discipline. And it's still really raw racing, which obviously, every racing driver loves, and I liked the team element to it.

“That's why I always loved the combination when I was doing Formula 2, because when I was talking about the joy in Formula 2 and in single-seater racing, everything is very individual. But then in endurance, the joy comes a bit more natural, because – and I don't want to sound negative, because it's not joy, but the team harmony is a bit more present. You're with three drivers, and you're working together to achieve something. So yeah, I was very happy that I got the opportunity to start kind of doing this earlier.

“And now with Toyota, I've been testing since midway through 2020. The first race was I think Le Mans that I was actually the reserve driver, and obviously did a test prior to it. So I've been some time with them now, actually, almost my whole time in parallel to Mercedes. It's been great to have that combination, and to be able to learn from both worlds and to drive both cars also still on track, you know, on real racing tracks, and having this kind of combination.”

De Vries has relished the experience of sharing with team-mates in sportscars

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

De Vries also described the difference in nature he was exposed to in his IndyCar tryout at Sebring, in which he beat Callum Ilott, Vandoorne and Jack Aitken to the quickest time.

“Meyer Shank were great guys,” he says. “It's a very different form of racing in the US. I would say it's mostly comparable to Formula 2 almost, given the fact that everyone has the same car. Obviously, there are different engine manufacturers. I would probably compare it to Formula 2 in the sense that the basics of the equipment is the same.

“And then it's up to the teams to make the differences and obviously the car's a bit quicker. But also from a feeling point of view, I felt quite quickly at home, I will admit it was very physical. And then the Americans, they love show and they love racing, and it's very pure, which is refreshing sometimes.

"F1 is a dream for every young driver; I repeat that sentence often, but I would be lying if I said that it isn't. Everyone shares that dream and goal, and it's the pinnacle of our sport" Nyck de Vries

“But at the same time, I also love the professionalism, the technicality and kind of sophisticated elements of Formula 1, hypercars and Formula E because all of them have their own challenges.”

At 27 years old, de Vries is a man looking for the next path in racing. Prior to his Williams FP1 seat being announced, the crossroads he faced looked as such: find a new Formula E drive and pair that with further endurance racing, potentially with Toyota if a race seat becomes available; or shift his attentions stateside and cast his net out for an IndyCar drive.

Now, de Vries has an opportunity to set out his stall in F1 with FP1 at Barcelona. And, coincidentally, this pits him directly against Latifi as the Toronto native’s grasp on his Williams drive looks particularly shaky with the team no longer needing to court his considerable wealth to stay afloat. De Vries, of course, was one of the key contenders for the drive vacated by Russell but ultimately lost out to Albon as Williams valued the Anglo-Thai driver’s greater experience at the top level.

So what will Williams get when it slots de Vries into the FW44? Behind the wheel, de Vries brings latent pace first and foremost, and pairs that with a cerebral approach that has been honed in the management-heavy discipline of Formula E.

It’s not his first rodeo in an F1 car, of course – de Vries has performed young driver test duties for Mercedes at Abu Dhabi – but the 2022 formula will require a little familiarisation in the early stages of the session. Outside of the car, Williams will work with someone who is incredibly articulate and technically astute, and who’ll give good feedback to the engineers in their own language.

Joining Mercedes' F1 reserve line-up in addition to his Formula E duties, de Vries tested the W12 at Abu Dhabi last year

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

“F1 is a dream for every young driver; I repeat that sentence often, but I would be lying if I said that it isn't,” de Vries says. “Everyone shares that dream and goal, and it's the pinnacle of our sport.

“Formula 1 as championship has done extremely well, it really has taken off thanks to, I think, almost three main elements, which are Netflix, social media, and cost cap. Teams are becoming profitable franchises now, and the whole world is watching. They're obviously exploring the map, the US market now.

“I would be lying if I said that it is not a dream. But at the same time, I'm realistic, and I'm not sure whether that is realistic or not. It's still quite early. So that is maybe a dream; rationally and realistically, I think probably Formula E, WEC or IndyCar are more options that are kind of more controllable.”

What de Vries can control is how he impresses Williams’ higher-ups in his FP1 chance. If he can approach the session in his typically focused demeanour, deliver everything expected of him and gets team principal Jost Capito waxing lyrical about his ability, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff will undoubtedly field more calls from other teams enquiring about his availability for future sessions.

De Vries has a big opportunity ahead - nobody will know that more than him – but as a consummate professional, he’ll be able to put those voices to the back of his mind once he’s strapped up in the car on Friday morning. And, for the patience he’s exercised in the previous few seasons, it’s an opportunity that de Vries deserves.

De Vries has spent years waiting in the wings for an F1 chance, and it will finally come his way this weekend in a Williams in Barcelona

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images