After impressing on his F1 debut at this years Italian Grand Prix, Nyck de Vries will be making his full-time debut in 2023 with AlphaTauri. Prior to making it in F1, the Dutchman won the 2019 Formula 2 championship and subsequently the 2020/21 Formula E World Championship with Mercedes. After a handful of FP1 sessions with Mercedes-engined teams throughout this year, he will take up the role from Pierre Gasly as the leader of AlphaTauri according to Red Bull Special Advisor, Helmut Marko.
De Vries experience counts for more
Even though teammate Yuki Tsunoda has been with the team for two years, Marko believes De Vries' experience being a full-time Formula E driver with a manufacturer, simulator driver, and reserve. "Yuki is young and does not have the background and experience that Nyck has," said Marko speaking to Dutch Motorsport . "We will see how it goes next year, but looking at his experience and his personality, then De Vries has to become the team leader of AlphaTauri. "The team will certainly benefit from his work for all other F1 teams. He is reserve driver for almost every Mercedes-powered team on the grid and has worked in various simulators. We are now getting that kind of experience in-house." When told about these expectations, De Vries said he takes the comments by the Austrian as a "compliment" and claims drivers don't really need prior experience in F1 to be a team leader. He said: "I take it as a compliment. You don't necessarily need F1 experience to be a leader. That comes from your character, your personality and how you are."
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