Nyck de Vries will be driving for AlphaTauri in 2023 after being picked up by Red Bull last season. The Dutch driver scored points on his F1 debut with Williams at Monza last year. Impressed by his performance, Red Bull gave him a shot and signed him up to partner Yuki Tsunoda at AlphaTauri.
Now, whenever Red Bull places a driver in AlphaTauri, the question often revolves around whether that driver will eventually drive for the senior team. This is further amplified by the fact that many F1 pundits have praised De Vries and rated him very highly.
Will Buxton, one of the most recognizable voices in F1, has been a vocal supporter of the Dutchman’s talents. Many notable publications have also shared kind words about De Vries, with some even terminating him a dark horse this season. For a driver who is a former F2 and Formula E champion, such high praise is warranted.
However, do we have the full picture in front of us? Is Nyck de Vries a future Red Bull driver? Do his performances indicate what his potential could be? More importantly, is he getting hyped up far beyond what he’s capable of delivering? Let’s find out.
Nyck de Vries junior career
Nyck de Vries has made his way through the ranks alongside the likes of Charles Leclerc, Alex Albon, George Russell, and Lando Norris, despite being older than them. The delay in the Dutchman breaking into the ranks of the highest echelon of motorsports can be attributed to his career, GP3 and onwards, in comparison to his peers who have already made it to F1.
Who is Nyck de Vries?
For the mid, he is the middest.
For the F2 champions, he literally won against Latifi.
For the fugazi titles, he is the champion.
If de Vries has one fan, I will find them. twitter.com/TopDogVettel/s…
Who is Nyck de Vries? For the mid, he is the middest. For the F2 champions, he literally won against Latifi. For the fugazi titles, he is the champion. If de Vries has one fan, I will find them. twitter.com/TopDogVettel/s…
In 2016, he finished 6th in GP3 while Leclerc won the championship. In 2017, he moved to F2 and finished 7th as Leclerc once again won the title. In his second year in F2 in 2018, De Vries finished 4th in the championship while Russell won the title. Even Norris and Albon finished ahead of him and all of them graduated to F1. De Vries, on the other hand, stuck around for another year and won the championship in 2019.
His Formula E campaign has seen him finish 11th in his first season, winning the title in the second season, and only finishing 10th last year when he was defending his title.
The reality of those championship triumphs!
While Nyck de Vries has received his fair share of acclaim for winning both the F2 and Formula E championships, we arguably need to dig deeper than just looking at the headline results. It might come as a surprise to many that De Vries won his F2 championship against a driver named Nicholas Latifi. Yes, the same Latifi who was considered not fast enough for F1 and booted out last season.
@KazuneKZ_ @MaVrick276 @F1 Sargeant 0 titles De Vries 1 F2 championship 1 FE championship 
Moreover, he won the title in his third season in the category against a very inexperienced field weakened by the departures of George Russell, Lando Norris, and Alex Albon. The only recognizable names from that year would be Nikita Mazepin, Mick Schumacher, Nicholas Latifi, and Guanyu Zhou. Not the most competitive field now, is it?
Similarly, it’s hard to get a read of how De Vries performed in Formula E. While it was clear that he was one of the better drivers on the field, the championship was quite unpredictable.
The Dutchman finished two out of his three seasons in the electric racing series outside of the top 8. Do these credentials match the description of a future Red Bull driver? One would have to be brave enough to say yes to that.
What can we expect from Nyck de Vries?
First of all, let’s get one thing straight. Our aim in this feature is not to ridicule what Nyck de Vries has done. The Dutchman has been brilliant enough to win two titles and that’s no joke. Not many drivers on the current F1 grid can claim that. However, what we are trying to achieve is expectation management for De Vries.
Looking back at his junior career, it would be a very bold statement to say that De Vries has credibly shown that he is capable enough to drive for a front-running team. He has, however, shown that he’s capable and deserving of being an F1 driver. Will he take the next step and become a top tier driver? Looking at his track record so far, it’s tough to say yes. Hence, returning to the question we wanted to answer all along: Yes, Nyck de Vries is overrated at the moment by F1 pundits and consequently, expectations need to be kept in check.
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