Nyck De Vries: The old rookie

Nyck De Vries is one of the three rookies joining Formula One in 2023 but unlike his fellow drivers, he is significantly older. Oscar Piastri & Logan Sargeant are 21 and 22 years old whereas De Vries is 28.

De Vries will begin his first full season in Formula One with Alpha Tauri alongside Yuki Tsunoda. De Vries will be the fifth oldest driver on the 2023 grid with Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, and Sergio Perez just ahead of him. So how did De Vries manage to secure a seat in F1 instead of the numerous upcoming younger drivers within motorsports?

The Dutch driver has had a very long but successful career in motorsports, starting in karting from 2004 to 2011. De Vries competed in roughly 30 different karting events; he finished in the top three during 20 of these, eight of which were in first place.

After his time in karting, he was finally allowed to move up to the Formula series, starting in Formula Renault from 2012 to 2015 with his highlights being two first places in 2014. This was then followed by one year in GP3, finishing sixth in the standings.

De Vries leapt into Formula 2 in 2017. He competed in F2 for three years which is unlike both Piastri and Sargeant who were only in F2 for one year. De Vries would eventually win the Formula 2 championship in the 2019 season but could not secure a seat in Formula 1 for the following season.

From 2018 to 2022, De Vries also participated in multiple endurance races alongside his racing in the formula series.

After not securing a Formula One seat for 2020, De Vries competed in a Le Man's race before joining the Mercedes FE team. De Vries joined FE in 2020 and competed for three years, winning the championship in 2021.

Throughout his career, De Vries was still a part of the Formula One paddock. He became Mercedes’ reserve and test driver in 2021 but also participated in multiple practice sessions for Aston Martin and Williams throughout 2021 and 2022.

During the 2022 season, before the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, Williams driver Alex Albon contracted appendicitis and was not able to compete. Toto Wolff, the team principal for Mercedes, saw this as an opportunity for De Vries and allowed Williams to use him as a reserve driver to replace Albon for the weekend.

De Vries at the 2022 Italian Grand Prix ahead of his debut race (Image: Getty Images)

De Vries finally made his debut in Formula One after three years of waiting on the sidelines. De Vries showed his ability by finishing P9 and scoring points for Williams, which was only their third point finish of the season. The Dutchman was also able to out-qualify and perform better than Nicholas Latifi, who has driven for Williams for three years.

De Vries’ debut made him a hot topic to many teams in Formula 1 for the 2023 season, but it was Alpha Tauri who managed to secure a deal with the Dutch driver. His journey to Formula One has been a long and unusual one but as a result of this, he has gained many championships and a lot of experience that the other rookies will not have.

Will De Vries’ experience help his performance in his debut season, or will his age prove too much of a problem?