Nyck de Vries has parted ways with McLaren Racing as its new team principal Andreas Seidl officially starts his F1 work.
A long-term association between McLaren and FIA Formula 2 Championship racer de Vries ended recently, with the Dutchman leaving the junior programme of the Woking-based outfit as confirmed to FormulaRapida.net by a team’s spokesperson.
McLaren signed de Vries way back in 2010 and under them, he won the Formula Renault 2.0’s Eurocup and Alps series’ in 2014. He finished third in the Formula Renault 3.5 championship in 2015 and since then has won races in GP3 Series and F2.
The Dutchman hoped for a F1 move in 2019 or as soon he coul but couldn’t get through, especially at a time when his F2 rivals Lando Norris and Alexander Albon made the graduation along with 2018 winner George Russell.
He stayed in F2 for his third season with ART Grand Prix but opened other avenues for himself as he races with Racing Team Nederland in the FIA World Endurance Championship. In the meantime, he also tested for Envision Virgin in FIA Formula E Championship.
With McLaren having Norris and Carlos Sainz already in their ranks, it is unlikely there will be a chance for de Vries anytime soon in F1 with them. Additionally, the team also signed F2’s Sergio Sette Camara as its new junior ahead of the 2019 season.
The Brazilian could be up for his first run with McLaren, as the team has half a day to fill up for a rookie to be in a F1 car in the upcoming Barcelona in-season test. Meanwhile, de Vries has suggested about working with other F1 teams but nothing has cropped up so far.
In another news related to the British team, ex-Porsche LMP1 head Seidl has officially started in his role as McLaren’s team principal from May 1 onward, whom they signed on January 10. The team updated its website, following his official joining.
The German was seen at Bahrain GP earlier in the 2019 season but he did not travel on McLaren’s pass. Next weekend’s Spanish GP will be his first on-track assignment as the F1 outfit’s head, where he will report to CEO Zak Brown.
Seidl’s joining completes McLaren’s recent top tier hiring saga with the team bringing in the likes of Gil de Ferran, Pat Fry, James Key and Robert Fernley (IndyCar). The F1 side though now will fall on the shoulders of Seidl with de Ferran joining Brown at his side.