Franz Tost says Nyck de Vries’ excellent performance as a late stand-in for Alexander Albon during the Italian Grand Prix opened the door for the Dutchman to join Scuderia AlphaTauri in 2023.
De Vries was confirmed to join AlphaTauri on Saturday in place of Pierre Gasly, who will move to the BWT Alpine F1 Team in place of the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team-bound Fernando Alonso.
The Dutchman was a late replacement for Williams Racing’s Albon in Italy, and he performed superbly to make it into Q2 at the first time of asking and score two points thanks to a ninth-place finish.
And it was this performance that saw Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko meet up with de Vries about the possibility of joining AlphaTauri next season.
“This had a great influence, because it showed his potential,” Tost is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com of the Italian GP. “He drove a fantastic race, did not make any mistake, and therefore it was an easy decision to take him.
“Monza was important, but it was not an eye-opener, because Nyck was also on the radar before.
“With the special circumstances of other drivers leaving their teams, Red Bull also decided not to race with Pierre Gasly from 2024 onwards, all these components together brought us to the decision that Nyck de Vries is the best possibility and that he will fit quite well into the team.”
When asked about why they went after de Vries, AlphaTauri Team Principal Tost says that he deserves an opportunity in the highest level of single seater racing after being extremely successful in junior formulae and, more recently, the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.
“Because he’s fast!” said Tost. “I know his history, I saw him in karting, he won in 2010 and ‘11 the European and World championship in karting, and then he was really successful in all the categories he raced.
“He won Formula Renault [2.0], Formula 2, also in Formula E, and therefore I think he is a very high-skilled driver, and he deserves to be in Formula 1. We are really looking forward to having him in our car.”
Tost does not think it will take de Vries long to settle into his role as a full-time FIA Formula 1 World Championship driver, and he could even take over team leadership if he performs as well in F1 as he has in other categories, providing they give him the car to showcase his skills.
“I expect that this learning period will be reduced to a couple of tests,” Tost added. “That means I expect him to be very competitive from the first race onwards in 2023.
“The guidance of the team depends also on the performance of the car. If we have a good car, it’s easy for both drivers.
“If we have problems with the car, then I think that it will not be so easy to sort out everything because Nyck hasn’t so much F1 experience, and Yuki [Tsunoda] is still in a learning process. “I think that Yuki next year should be measured enough to give technical guidance.
“Nevertheless I expect a lot from Nyck because he has experience from racing categories where he won races and championships, and therefore if the car works, I think that we will have a successful year.”