Hamilton: Nyck did a strong job, I'm grateful for the work he did

Saturday, 23 July 2022 at 06:26

Toto Wolff was quick to point out that Mercedes could not help Nyck de Vries secure a Formula 1 seat, however the World Champions and their star driver Lewis Hamilton had only praise for the highly rated Dutchman after his FP1 stint on Friday.

De Vries took over Hamilton's cockpit for the first free practice session of the 2022 French Grand Prix weekend, as part of the mandatory use of a team reserve at the expense of a regular driver. Hamilton opted to sacrifice FP1 at Paul Ricard; teammate George Russell will also give up an FP1 session later in the year.

On Friday at Paul Ricard Circuit, Mercedes team principal Wolff told reporters: “If we are not able to provide him (de Vries) with an interesting F1 project, in a way we need to let him go."

Later in the day, in the Mercedes team report, Hamilton was the first to commend De Vries: "Nyck did a strong job this morning, he was great out there and I'm grateful for the work he did. We made some changes from FP1 to FP2 which is crazy considering I haven't even driven the car yet. "

De Vries spoke of his experience: "I'm very grateful for the opportunity, it was a great experience. Obviously, it was very cool to be back in such a fast car and a bit of a reset of what I'm used to. All in all, a great session and great opportunity."

Nyck: Lewis was amazing and also very supportive

Hamilton happy Nyck De Vries in the Mercedes W13 at Circuit Paul Ricard. : r/formula1

De Vries also shed light on the graft he did during his stint in the W13: "We went through all test items and managed to do quite a bit of work for the team. It was a good session, it felt quickly on the pace and I felt comfortable with the car. The team was very supportive, and we got the information that we needed.

"Lewis was amazing and also very supportive. I also had Angela by my side as well which was really sweet. So overall a very productive session," added De Vries who ended FP1 ninth fastest, half a second down on Russell's best effort in the other Mercedes

Also praising De Vries at the end of the day was Mercedes trackside boss Andrew Shovlin: "Nyck did a great job for us in the morning session. Considering how little time he's had in the car, it was impressive how quick and consistent he was.

"This is the first time that one of the race drivers has had to sit out an FP1 session and Lewis had his work cut out trying to recover the lost time," added Shovlin.