27, going by the trend, is a little too old to make a debut in Formula 1. Not for Nyck de Vries, though. The Dutchman got his big break in times of adversity for Alex Albon last season. Albon had to undergo an operation for appendicitis and that is when Nyck stepped in to replace him at Monza. Scoring points in his stand-in race with an arguably below-average car, Nyck almost instantly became a hot property. Soon after, he was roped in by Red Bull’s sister team AlphaTauri, to race for them in 2023. This success, however, did not come easy, as there was a time when he was under so much pressure that he did not want to return to race.

After what was virtually his audition for F1 teams in Monza, de Vries was almost certain to join Williams, replacing Nicholas Latifi. However, what swung his choice was a piece of advice from his fellow Dutchman and “big brother” Max Verstappen. Max asked him to make a phone call to Helmut Marko, who was looking for choices to replace outgoing Pierre Gasly. What happened thereafter is history.

Nyck de Vries reveals the depressing time when the pressure got to him

Things were not as hunky-dory during his time racing in the feeder series for Prema. The team had tasted big success, winning the championship with Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly, and wanted to replicate it with Nyck. Just in his second year in F2 championship racing, he finished P4  in qualifying in Bahrain. While that was by no means any bad result, the response from the team wasn’t too reassuring. They told him if they lost the championship because he did not get the pole position, they would pin the blame on him. Later in Baku, he went wide while racing with George Russell and they both did not score any points.

Speaking on AlphaTauri’s official podcast on YouTube, Nyck revealed, “I was too scared to come back to the garage, I literally left into the town and just went to sit, cry on a little bench in the middle of Baku.”

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He added, “I just left for one and a half hours because I was too scared to get back.”

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One thing is for sure, the pressure in F1 is not going to be any less. And the first person to do it to him is his good friend Max Verstappen.

Max Verstappen places the weight of AlphaTauri’s success on de Vries’ shoulders

Despite not having raced against each other, Max and Nyck know each other fairly well. They grew up in the same country, speaking the same language, and karting together often. Nyck is 2 years older than him, but Max certainly knows a thing or two more about winning in F1.

Speaking with Motorsport.com, Verstappen said, “I think Nyck also feels the car pretty well, and that’s exactly what AlphaTauri needs. Of course, they lose Pierre there and because of that, they need someone with experience in general again. Someone who can get in the car and hopefully lead them in the right direction soon.”

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2023 is certainly going to be the season for the rookies to prove their potential. Will de Vries make a mark for himself while competing with the big boys?