Nyck de Vries preparing for a F1 race. (Image: Getty Images)
Nyck de Vries knows all too well the harsh realities of chasing an F1 dream.
Crowned Formula 2 champion in 2019, it wasn’t until 2022 that he got his first taste of F1 action, stepping in for an unwell at during the Italian GP at Monza.
His impressive performance to finish ninth made him a sought-after talent within the junior ranks, leading him to join Alpha Tauri for the 2023 season, following in the footsteps of .
However, the move turned sour as De Vries failed to secure a single point and was cut from the team after just 10 races, with taking his seat.
He now competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota and in Formula E for Mahindra.
Reflecting on the ordeal, the 30-year-old, who also competed in GT racing and Formula E while waiting for his F1 break, opened up about the tough nature of the sport when results don’t come.
Speaking to the Cool Room podcast, he admitted: “I guess I didn’t really come up to speed quickly enough. I think there were some situations where the coin could have easily landed in my favour, but it didn’t.
“Ultimately, my bosses didn’t think it was good enough for the time I was there, and they decided to replace me. It was a challenging time because there were a lot of talks publicly about it, and I wasn’t really aware of anything. At least there wasn’t really much of a dialogue with me, personally.”
Nyck de Vries while in action for Williams. (Image: Getty Images)
The former F1 driver revealed the intense scrutiny he faced from the media, saying: “You pick up everything through the media. During F1 weekends you speak a lot to the media, so basically every weekend since maybe my second weekend, I’d just arrived and I had to answer questions about my future, which felt a little bit out of place – but that’s how it went or can go.
“You obviously have the media, so you have external kind of pressure, but you also have internal pressure, and every team deals with that differently, they basically double up.”
He described the overwhelming presence of the media in the paddock: “Everywhere you are, you almost feel like the media are looking at you and they, I wouldn’t say attack you, but you feel that they write and talk about it 24/7, so when you are walking in the paddock, when you are moving within that ecosystem, everyone knows about it and you can’t hide from it.
“Even though you would like to, there is no way to escape. The way I tried to deal with it was just to ignore it and not to read anything – I just stopped reading any news. But you still kind of know it’s there.”
Despite the harsh reality of his short stint with , de Vries expressed no bitterness, instead showing gratitude for the chance to chase his dream: “I’m grateful for the opportunity that they have given me. I was able to kind of fulfil my childhood dream. It didn’t work out, it became a short chapter in my career.
“I would say I was very grateful that I had the chance to build a career before F1, because sometimes it happens that drivers are promoted to F1 and it ends quickly, or prematurely, and then they don’t really have anything to fall back to. I consider myself lucky that I already spent time in Formula E and WEC, which made the transition back to those championships, I would say, more straightforward.”
This article first appeared on the .