Franz Tost has revealed that Nyck de Vries has been released early by Mercedes to start with AlphaTauri in terms of testing.
Having undertaken a FP1 run in place of George Russell during F1 Mexico GP weekend, de Vries has seemingly completed his time with Mercedes. The team and the Dutchman exchanged appreciative words after the session towards each other.
The end of run with Mercedes was later confirmed by AlphaTauri boss Franz Tost who stated that de Vries has been given the permission by the German outfit to take part in the post-season F1 test to take place at Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi.
De Vries already had a seat fit in Faenza as he will get the much needed track time with AlphaTauri ahead of his formal start in 2023. “I had a lot of contact with him,” said Tost. “He was in Faenza, they made the seat and I also met him in Mexico on Friday. We always have some chats together. It’s very interesting, very important to know each other.
“And I want to integrate him into the team as fast as possible. And he will do for us the young driver test in Abu Dhabi, where he can become more familiar with the car, with the team. And then we will see. We have a good programme for him during the winter months to prepare him in the best possible way for 2023,” summed up Tost.
With de Vries driving in Abu Dhabi, it solves AlphaTauri’s problem of giving a chance to a Red Bull pool driver. Already Liam Lawson had multiple runs and he would have been in the prime position to secure a F1 test if not for the Dutchman.
For de Vries, AlphaTauri will be the fifth different F1 team that he would be driving in 2022 – which becomes a record in the current era. Along with Mercedes, the Dutchman also drove for Williams, Aston Martin and Alpine (its 2021 car).
Here’s what Nyck de Vries said on Friday
