De Vries: The phone just kept going after Monza

It is long overdue that De Vries gets his proper F1 break in 2023, setting himself up to be the next in line, after Sergio Perez, to be a teammate to fellow Dutchman, and mate, Max Verstappen at Red Bull, eventually.

For now, he will be teammate to 22-year-old Yuki Tsunoda who will provide an interesting benchmark for the more experienced 27-year-old De Vries; the Japanese driver is prodigiously quick at times but often erratic and inconsistent while Nyck is known to go about his business smartly and calmly, with great effect as his CV shows world championship titles from his karting days, early single seaters, sportscar racing, 2019 Formula 2 Champion and of course the Formula E title of 2020-21.

Speaking on Beyond the Grid podcast, De Vries recalled the week after Monza where he finished ninth in a race of high attrition and with it set about a sequence of events that has him within the Red Bull fold, with AlphaTauri to begin with.

“The phone just kept going," recalled Nyck. "I really wanted to use the momentum and the buzz that was happening to conquer and create an opportunity for me in Formula 1 in 2023."

Which led to contact with Williams boss Jost Capito, who was sounding out drivers to possibly replace Nicholas Latifi; De Vries explained: “We were obviously in close conversations with Williams for a longer time, and I spoke to Jost on the Tuesday after the weekend. The Alpine test was already scheduled... It was scheduled way before Monza; I went to the Alpine facilities just ahead of Spa."

Cue the reigning F1 World Champion to play his role, as Nyck revealed: "Then I had dinner with Max on Monday evening in Monaco to kind of celebrate. We talked about it openly, about the possibilities and opportunities. We talked about potentially AlphaTauri, Dr Marko, and that’s how it went. Later that week I was in Graz.”

From there, De Vries was inducted into the world of Red Bull driver boss Helmut Marko: “We had a great time together. We spent two days eating Austrian local food and talking about the future together. He has a good sense of humour and we respected each other.

“I think he appreciated me for being there, representing myself, and having the conversations with him directly. Red Bull is all about performance and winning, and I share that, so it was very straightforward and enjoyable."

De Vries had other plans for 2023 with Toyota and was in a Mercedes contract, which needed to be dealt with before he inked the Red Bull contract to drive for the junior team: “Obviously it was not entirely in our hands; it was a bit more complicated, as everyone understands. But basically, that trip made me understand that there was a very good chance I could be on the grid in 2023.”

Meanwhile, after years of Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri boss Franz Tost is looking forward to De Vries' arrival, pointing out he was already being watched before the Monza epiphany: “This had a great influence because it showed his potential.

Of his debut at the Italian Grand Prix, Tost told reporters recently: "He drove a fantastic race, did not make any mistakes and, therefore, it was an easy decision to take him. Monza was important, but it was not an eye-opener because Nyck was on the radar before.

"The special circumstances that other drivers left teams and that Red Bull decided not to race with Pierre Gasly from 2024 onwards – all these components together brought us to the decision that Nyck de Vries is the best possibility and that he will fit quite well in the team," added Tost.

Before firing a subtle warning to their new kid on the block: ""I expect that this learning period for Nyck will be reduced to a couple of tests. That means I expect him to be very competitive from the first race onwards in 2023...

"All the Red Bull young drivers were taken into consideration. There's Liam Lawson, there's Ayumu]Iwasa, there's Hauger... They need to do another year or two in their categories and then we will see what the future will bring," added the AlphaTauri boss.