AlphaTauri announce Nyck de Vries as Gasly’s replacement

Italian Formula One team Scuderia AlphaTauri have announced that Nyck de Vries will be joining them for the 2023 season to replace Pierre Gasly, who will be leaving the team to join Alpine. 

De Vries, who is a part of the Mercedes driver academy, has already taken part in multiple Free Practice Sessions for Mercedes, Aston Martin and Williams this season and made his Formula One debut for Williams as a stand-in for Alex Albon at the Italian Grand Prix earlier this year. He impressed on his debut, scoring points on his very first outing, and his stellar showing seems to have paid off.

De Vries has taken part in Formula 2 since 2017 and won the F2 championship in 2019. Even though the Dutchman performed well in Formula 2, he failed to secure a Formula 1 seat, which led to him shifting to Formula E while simultaneously serving as a test driver for Mercedes.

Racing for the Mercedes-EQ Formula E team since the 2019/20 season, De Vries was the Formula E champion in the 2020/21 season. He also was the 2010 and 2011 Karting World Champion. 

De Vries’ impressive showings couldn’t keep him away from the F1 paddock for too long, however. After he showed his readiness for Formula 1 during his one-off show at this year’s Italian Grand Prix, AlphaTauri were quick to rope him in. 

Also read: Alpine sign Pierre Gasly for 2024 and beyond

Nyck de Vries spoke about joining AlphaTauri, commenting:

“I’m extremely excited to be joining Scuderia AlphaTauri for 2023 and I want to thank both Red Bull and the team for giving me the opportunity to drive in F1. After Formula 2, I took a slightly different path with motorsport, but F1 has always been my dream and I’m grateful to be able to fulfil it. I’ve had a lot of chances to experience the 2022 car this year and I think that has put me in a great position for the upcoming season, I hope this has helped to prepare me for what is to come. Having spent most of my teenage years in Italy for karting, I’ve always felt at home there, so for me it’s great to be joining an Italian team, that already has a real family feel, and I’m looking forward to meeting everyone and to start to build our relationship before the next season.”

Franz Tost, Team Principal, AlphaTauri, added:

“Scuderia AlphaTauri had a very successful time with Pierre. We will never forget his fantastic victory in Monza and his podium finishes in Brazil and Azerbaijan. I want to thank Pierre for all the effort he’s put into the team in the last years, and I wish him all the best for his future.

“Now, we are pleased to start a new chapter with Nyck, who’s very much welcome at Scuderia AlphaTauri. He is a very high skilled driver, as he won in all the categories he competed in, with many races and championships under his belt. His last big success was winning the Formula E World Championship, and this is clear evidence that he is a very competitive driver, who deserves a seat in F1. I am looking forward to seeing him in our car and I’m confident that with Yuki and Nyck we will have a very strong driver line up for 2023.“

With Gasly joining Alpine and De Vries heading to replace him at AlphaTauri, the Formula One grid for the upcoming season has only two empty seats left.