Franz Tost opens up on hiring Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri from 2023 F1 season after Pierre Gasly decided to switch to Alpine.
Despite having four Red Bull juniors in 2022 F2 championship, AlphaTauri had to go out for shopping after Gasly decided to switch to Alpine in 2023. The Frenchman got the opportunity when Oscar Piastri rejected the offer to go to McLaren.
Needing an experienced young driver, Gasly became a right choice for Alpine, while AlphaTauri got hold of de Vries after not securing IndyCar racer Colton Herta due to superlicense situation. The Dutchman brings loads of experience.
Having won in F2 and Formula E, de Vries has been Mercedes reserve for the last few seasons and this year alone he has driven for different teams in FP1. The Dutchman’s Monza show for Williams solidified his CV after he scored points on debut.
Here’s team boss Franz Tost on taking in Nyck de Vries –
Losing Pierre Gasly and hiring Nyck de Vries –
Tost: “Because he’s fast. I know his history. I saw him in karting, he won, I think it was 2010 and ’11, the European and the World Championship in karting, and then he was really successful. In all the categories where he raced. He won in Formula Renault, he won in GP3, he won in Formula 2 and also he won the Formula E World Championship, and therefore I think he is a very high-skilled driver, and he deserves to be in Formula 1, and we are really looking forward to having him in our car.”
Monza drive and on radar pre-Monza –
Tost: “Monza had a great influence because it showed his potential. He drove a fantastic race, did not make any mistakes. And therefore, it was an easy decision to take him. Monza was important, but it was not an eye opener, yeah, because Nyck was on the radar also before and the special circumstances that other drivers left the teams then that Red Bull also decided not to race with Pierre Gasly from 2024 onwards, this is what they announced, all these components together brought us to the decision that Nyck DeVries is the best possibility and that he will fit quite well to the team.”
First run with AlphaTauri and how he sees him in future –
Tost: “I don’t think so because he still has a contract with another team. I hope that we can see him in Abu Dhabi in the Young Driver Test. As for his driving, I expect that this learning period for Nyck will be reduced to a couple of tests. That means I expect him to be very competitive from the first race onwards in 2023.”
Change of purpose for AlphaTauri by hiring from outside –
Tost: “The purpose for AlphaTauri is to be an ambassador for [the] AlphaTauri [brand] and, of course, still to educate drivers for Red Bull Racing. And as I mentioned before, there are a couple of young drivers coming up and we will see then how good they perform in the categories where they are racing. And if they are good enough to join us then in the future.
Colton Herta’s chances –
Tost: “Of course, there were some talks with Herta but as he doesn’t have a Super Licence. And when the FIA said that they will not provide him with a Super Licence, it was clear that he is not anymore option for Scuderia AlphaTauri, although it would have been good from the marketing side, because to have an American driver with this good name I think would have pushed us forward in the American market. Because as I mentioned before, we are an ambassador for AlphaTauri, and therefore, this would have been a good possibility from the marketing side, but it didn’t work and then we looked for another option.”
Current juniors –
Tost: “All the Red Bull young drivers were taken into consideration. There’s Liam Lawson, there’s [Ayumu] Iwasa, there’s [Dennis] Hauger in Formula 2, then [Isack] Hadjar in Formula 3, but they all still miss experience. They need to do another year or two in their categories and then we will see what the future will bring.”
Here’s Otmar Szafnauer on hiring Pierre Gasly
Here’s Pierre Gasly on joining Alpine and nightmares about Suzuka