De Vries spoke to Verstappen: 'Publicly still Mercedes driver'

Max Verstappen played an important role in Nyck de Vries's decision to make the switch to Formula 1, the rookie tells in the podcast Tauritalk by AlphaTauri. After last year's Monza Grand Prix, the AlphaTauri driver mapped out his situation better.

De Vries had to wait years for his chance in Formula 1. During the Italian race weekend, the driver managed to do so by posting an excellent race on behalf of Williams as Alexander Albon's replacement. On Monday night, Verstappen and De Vries decided to have dinner together.

"We had dinner together on the Monday night to kind of celebrate his win and celebrate my debut," De Vries told us. "We obviously talked about the future and opportunities. And I think the most important [thing]I took away from that dinner was that I was still very much perceived publicly as a Mercedes driver."

De Vries decided that this had to change. "I think it was important for me to clarify that I was part of Mercedes until the end of ’22. So I think it was good for me to basically make my situation clear in order to not miss out on potential opportunities."

Several teams decided to contact him after the GP, giving him the opportunity to make a choice. In the end, Helmut Marko's story convinced him to make the switch to AlphaTauri, where he is Pierre Gasly's successor.