Nyck de Vries is currently involved in a court case with former lender ahead of his full-time F1 debut this year with AlphaTauri.
The Dutch media is covering a court case involving de Vries and his former lender, a real estate millionaire, Jeroen Schothorst. It is said that he lent 250,000 euros to the Dutch driver to fund his Formula 2 campaign for the 2018 season via Investrand.
The deal also had the clause that if by 2022, de Vries doesn’t find a F1 seat, his loan will be waived off. But considering he made a one-off outing in Monza to replace Alexander Albon at Williams and that he became a reserve driver of Mercedes, it created trouble.
The contract had test driver mentioned but the dispute is regarding him being a reserve driver, which de Vries argues is not comparable to being a full-time F1 driver. The Dutchman has so far paid 190,000 euros to Schothorst’s company.
But considering the reserve role and him making his F1 debut, Schothorst not only has the demand of a full payment wherein the 250,000 euros constitutes three percent interest, but also 50% of his salary/income from his F1 activities as per the contract.
Although de Vries has agreed to pay off the 250,000 euros in full, it seems like Schothorst has rejected the idea with a date of February 3 fixed for the next hearing. Should the order go against the Dutchman, he may have to pay him off from his AlphaTauri salary.
Geen probleemloze aanloop richting het nieuwe Formule 1-seizoen voor Nyck de Vries. Jeroen Schothorst, die hem in 2018 250.000 euro leende, heeft een kort geding aangespannen tegen de AlphaTauri-coureur. Er volgt ook nog een bodemprocedure. ⬇️
— Erik van Haren (@ErikvHaren) January 18, 2023
Here’s Franz Tost on AlphaTauri’s leader situation
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Here’s Franz Tost on hiring Nyck de Vries
