De Vries takes Russell's spot during FP1 in Mexico

Nyck de Vries will return to action for Mercedes at the Mexican Grand Prix. The Dutchman will drive the first free practice session in place of George Russell.

In 2022, Formula 1 teams are required to give up two free practice sessions to a rookie. Mercedes already used De Vries for this during the French Grand Prix. Then De Vries replaced Lewis Hamilton, in Mexico he will take Russell's place.

De Vries thus gets his fourth practice in an F1 car in 2022. Indeed, earlier he also drove a free practice for Williams and Aston Martin, besides driving a race for Williams in Italy. That race also eventually earned him the seat at AlphaTauri for 2023.

At his new team, De Vries does not seem to be able to return to action this year. The Dutchman is still under contract with Mercedes and saw Liam Lawson announced as the man who may drive free practice in Mexico for AlphaTauri. Fortunately, De Vries does find himself in a situation where he is still allowed to test and thus prepare optimally for his full F1 debut.