De Vries: 'Hopefully we can make our own history'

Nyck de Vries hopes to make his own history at AlphaTauri. In an interview with The Mirror the Dutchman discusses his own experience and looks at the shoes to fill at his new team.

De Vries is one of the most experienced rookies in Formula 1. Not only does he bring with him the Formula 2 title, he also became champion in Formula E and won the World Endurance Championship race in Fuji. At AlphaTauri this year, he will take over the spot assigned to Pierre Gasly for many years. Although AlphaTauri was not a particularly strong team, Gasly has regularly managed to get good results, the absolute highlight being a win at Monza in 2020.

"They obviously had many good seasons together," reflects De Vries. "including the win in Monza and podiums in Imola, Brazil, Baku... they definitely have a nice history together. It's a new chapter for everyone and I guess we'll make our own history in the future."

'I hope we can compete for the points'

The start of the season has not been thriving for De Vries: De Vries finished the opening race in Bahrain in fourteenth place, and in qualifying for the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix he had to make do with eighteenth. But it is still early in the season, and De Vries thinks the experience he brings will eventually add something for the team.

"I'm confident – I'm a little bit older and have been fortunate to race in many different championships. I have seen different Formula 1 teams from the inside and see different cars, so I believe I can bring good value to the team and I hope we can consistently fight for good points this year."