Nyck De Vries On F1 Struggles - "I Always Kept A Certain Faith, Despite Being Rejected Four Times"

"You are so close, yet so far away"

Nyck de Vries has revealed that he almost lost hope in securing a permanent F1 seat, but managed to keep pushing despite getting four rejections in the last year. 

De Vries has joined the AlphaTauri team for 2023, replacing Pierre Gasly who has made the move to Alpine. De Vries made a lasting impression when he stepped in at the very last minute for Alex Albon in the Williams at the Italian Grand Prix in 2022. He managed to get his first points and out-performed Albon's teammate, Nicholas Latifi. 

During an interview was DAY1, the Dutch driver he explained:

"It wasn't that I had a lot of frustration and that's also been the reason why I was always able to do it all with a lot of pleasure and motivation, because I was very happy with what I did have." 

De Vries had been a reserve driver for Mercedes since 2021. Speaking about the reserve driver position, he continued:

"You are so close and so far away. Deep down, I always kept a certain faith, despite being rejected four times in the last year.

"In 2021, I was allowed to win the Formula E championship, then we were very close but didn't succeed either.

"That little bit of hope was enough to keep the belief and the drive and not give up."

De Vries has proven he can dominate on track winning the Formula E championship for Mercedes in the 2020-2021 season and the Formula 2 championship for ART Grand Prix in 2019. The 27-year-old will be driving alongside Yuki Tsunoda at AlphaTauri and he is already one to look out for. 

The Dutchman will be joined by two other rookies for the 2023 season, Australian driver Oscar Piastri who has joined the McLaren team and American driver Logan Sargeant who has joined Williams.