Promising young driver Nyck de Vries has been in the news lately. The 2019 FIA Formula 2 Champion made his Formula 1 debut for Williams at Monza last weekend. He had replaced Alex Albon at Williams after the latter had developed appendicitis and was ruled out on Saturday.

Taking the second driver seat, he outqualified his teammate Nicholas Latifi to advance to Q2 and finish 13th. However, he started the race from eighth position after race penalties were applied to the other drivers. De Vries finished a hugely respectable ninth in the race, scoring points on his race debut with a team that hasn’t seen too many points scored this season.

Following the race, it was revealed that the 27-year-old Dutchman has the potential to join either Alpine or Williams as well as a likely position in the coveted Red Bull camp, although he maintains that his future is really beyond his own control.

If he does join AlphaTauri then Pierre Gasly will be released to go to Alpine. If Gasly stays put at AlphaTauri then De Vries is high on Alpine’s list of possible replacements for Fernando Alonso who is set to join Aston Martin.

However, the situation becomes complicated given that Alpine are planning to test with their 2021 car in Budapest, Hungary next week. De Vries, former AlphaRomeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi, Jack Doohan and Colton Herta are all set to participate and it is said that the team are in no hurry to make a decision.
At Williams as well, De Vries continues to remain in the scheme of things, where there is also momentum behind Logan Sargeant. However, the American has to wait for the Abu Dhabi Formula 2 finale for confirmation that he has qualified for a superlicence.

“I don’t quite know if I am in such a luxury situation that I can choose,” De Vries said on the Dutch TV show Humberto op Zaterdag.

“Largely, that is beyond my control. I have been in talks with Williams for a long time, and I was also able to make my debut there last weekend. That would be a logical step. Alpine I have been in contact with since July, and I will test for them in Budapest next week. And as the media had noticed yesterday, I went to Austria to meet Helmut Marko. Those are the facts.”