Williams target new F1 driver earmarked as potential Lewis Hamilton replacement for Mercedes

Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton have been a partnership at Mercedes since 2013. (Photo by Doug Murray/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Williams’ head of vehicle performance Dave Robson has talked up the prospects of Nyck de Vries joining the team for the 2023 Formula 1 season, though a family friend of the driver says he has been earmarked by Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff as an ‘insurance policy ‘ in case Lewis Hamilton retires.

27-year-old De Vries currently races in Mercedes in the Formula E championship, which he won last season, and also took the title in Formula 2 in 2019. He has served as Mercedes’ F1 test and reserve driver since the beginning of 2021 , and as part of the eight-time constructors’ champions’ partnership with Williams, he took part in free practice for the Spanish Grand Prix in their FW44 car in place of full-time driver Alex Albon.

The FIA ​​has introduced a new rule for the 2022 campaign which means each team must run a rookie driver, one who has competed in fewer than two F1 grands prix, in at least two practice sessions across the course of the year.

That means De Vries is likely to drive once more for Williams this season, as well having two opportunities with Mercedes themselves. The Dutchman said after his session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona that he is aiming to earn a full-time F1 race seat.

‘I would be lying if I said Formula 1 isn’t my goal, it is the pinnacle of our sport. I’m enjoying what I’m doing in Formula E and the World Endurance Championship. Time will tell really, the most important thing is to do my job on track and earn my opportunities.’

De Vries’ name was heavily linked with vacancies at both Alfa Romeo and Williams over the winter, before Guanyu Zhou and Albon eventually were eventually each by each of those teams respectively. He remains one of the most highly-rated single-seater drivers outside of F1, though, and Robson says the team was impressed by his performance in Spain.

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‘He clearly has what he needs to be an absolute top-quality competitive driver,’ Robson said. ‘He’s worthy of a place on the grid, I think, but so many people are. His pace was there. His ability to understand the tire and do the out-lap correctly, was really impressive.’

While Albon has impressed on his return to F1 after a year on the sidelines, team-mate Nicholas Latifi is struggling significantly at the back of the grid and is enduring his most difficult spell in the series since joining Williams in 2020. The Canadian is a dead last 21st in the drivers’ standings after the opening seven rounds of the season, one of only two full-time racers who has failed to score a point so far this season.

Nyck de Vries impressed Williams when he competed in free practice ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix. (Photo by ANP via Getty Images)

Speculation is now rife that De Vries will be drafted in to replace Latifi next season, though Dutch F1 pundit and family friend Tom Coronel insist that De Vries is Mercedes’ top priority to replace Hamilton if the seven-time world champion opts to walk away from racing.

‘If Lewis Hamilton stops, De Vries will get the seat,’ Colonel said. ‘Do you know why? As I’ve been saying for a year, Nyck is Toto Wolff’s insurance policy. I don’t want to say he ‘uses’ Nyck, but that’s why he keeps him close to him. This is a boy who is doing everything he should have done.’

Hamilton, though, is committed to a contract until at least the end of 2023 with Mercedes and is unlikely to retire this year despite being unable to challenge for the drivers’ championship.

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