Confirmed: Nyck de Vries will remain in F1 in 2026 after a standout season

Former Formula E world champion De Vries returned to McLaren in 2025, having previously been one of the team’s junior drivers. That appointment happened quietly, as McLaren initially did not announce that the Dutchman had been brought in.

At the team led by CEO Zak Brown, the former AlphaTauri Formula 1 driver was under contract as a Test and Simulator Driver, as the official title stated. Among other times during race weekends, De Vries was active at the McLaren factory in Woking, working in the simulator to refine the setup of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri’s cars.

The collaboration has proven so successful that McLaren and De Vries will continue working together in 2026. After a season in which McLaren captured both the drivers’ and constructors’ world titles, the Dutchman is again part of a pool with multiple drivers who are called up on a rotating basis to run the simulator.

De Vries cannot be present at the factory for every Grand Prix for McLaren in any case, because he has a busy schedule. This season, the Dutchman is once again competing in Formula E for Mahindra Racing. He is also one of the regular drivers for the Toyota team in the World Endurance Championship.

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