Italian Grand Prix – Nyck de Vries will take part in his third FP1 session of the season with a third different team this Friday.
De Vries, Formula E’s season 8 champion, got his Grand Prix weekend debut back in May when he took over Alex Albon’s Williams for the first practice session in Spain. Two months later and the Dutchman was back on track in an F1 car, this time replacing Lewis Hamilton for FP1 in France.
Friday will now see Sebastian Vettel sit out the opening practice while de Vries, who has spent time in the team’s simulator to prepare, takes control of his AMR22 at the Temple of Speed.
“I am really looking forward to driving for AMF1,” de Vries said, “particularly at such a legendary circuit as Monza.
“It will be my third FP1 session of the season, and in the third different Formula One chassis, and these opportunities have given me a fantastic insight into how Formula One cars and teams function and operate.
“I hope I can bring a fresh perspective to the AMF1 team and can undertake a run-programme that proves beneficial to us both.”
The rules this season state that each team must give rookies a run in at least two FP1 sessions over the course of the year, and so far de Vries has been the Mercedes driver of choice with McLaren now becoming the only Mercedes powered team to not have had the Dutchman in their car this season.
So far only half of the teams have handed their cars over to rookies, though none have ticked more than one of the mandated sessions off – Williams and Red Bull had de Vries and Juri Vips respectively in Spain, Mercedes then had de Vries in France and AlphaTauri gave Liam Lawson a run in Belgium, while Alfa Romeo seem to have been able to use Zhou Guanyu’s first FP1 outing back in Bahrain as one of their slots.
“We are delighted to welcome Nyck to our team, and we look forward to working with him at Monza,” said Aston Martin Team Principal, Mike Krack.
“I have watched Nyck’s career with great interest – he drove brilliantly to win the Formula 2 title in 2019 and underlined his class by winning the Formula E World Championship in 2020/2021, so we are looking forward to gaining his perspectives and insights about our car.
“His achievements show that he clearly deserves a shot at Formula One – and, hopefully, this opportunity to get behind the wheel of the AMR22 will allow him to showcase his abilities to the wider world.”
