De Vries: 'Reputation as a Mercedes driver had its limitations'

Nyck de Vries will no longer be found in the Mercedes garage from next year. Instead, he will become part of the Red Bull Racing family and join Yuki Tsunoda at AlphaTauri. He says he felt it necessary to clarify that he was not tied to the German racing stable, after he realized that that assumption might entail certain limitations.

Not a Mercedes man

Speaking to the Beyond the Grid podcast, De Vries says that he was mainly seen as a Mercedes driver, but that connection was not as close as it might have seemed. The 27-year-old Dutchman was linked to McLaren for many years, but the Woking-based team's junior programme ultimately did not earn him a Formula 1 seat.

After this, De Vries went to work as a reserve driver at Mercedes, where he also entered Formula E as a regular driver in 2019 and became world champion the following year. "I think in the public eye I was always very much perceived as a Mercedes driver, although our relationship was formally limited to a reserve driver contract," the future AlphaTauri driver explained.

After his successful Grand Prix debut in Italy, he realised that his reputation as a Mercedes man might stand in his way in the quest for a permanent F1 seat. "I think I was always seen as a Mercedes driver, and I think that Monday evening after Monza made me understand that could have its limitations. So it was important to clarify my situation to the people that made the calls," De Vries explained.