Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, James Hunt, Niki Lauda, Mika Hakkinen, Jenson Button, and Lewis Hamilton. These names have one thing in common. They all raced for McLaren. These names make up for an attractive wall of F1 drivers. Is Nyck de Vries going to make space for himself on the mantle?

The 2012 Drivers Championship was a close one with only 3 points separating 1st and 2nd. McLaren did well too, with Hamilton and Button finishing 4th and 5th. However, in retrospect, the year was special for McLaren for another reason. Nyck de Vries.

The Dutchman was unveiled as part of the Young Driver Development Programme at McLaren. In one of the cartoons by McLaren Tooned, Professor M says to Button, “You better watch out Jenson. He’ll be driving your car before you know it.”

This video came to full circle this season as de Vries delivered a marvelous performance at Monza. Although he did not drive for McLaren, he caught everyone’s eyes on the circuit.

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While de Vries only came on for Williams as a replacement for Alex Albon, he will be looking forward to grab one of the vacant spots in several teams for the coming seasons.

Does Nyck de Vries has a future in F1?

De Vries had been knocking on the F1 doors for a while now. The 27-year-old was unfortunate as the seat vacated by Button went to Stoffel Vandoorne, another driver from the Young Driver Programme. However, de Vries continued working hard in GP3, F2, and Formula E.

The call-up from Williams paid off as he secured a P9 in Monza. Lewis Hamilton, who had previously worked with him at McLaren, said “Nyck is a very talented driver, I knew him when he was very young, when I was at McLaren, my father tried to help him get into Formula 1.”

He also said, “He is really valuable to our team, and he does a lot for us in the simulator and he is always positive. I was so happy to hear that he got the chance to drive a GP weekend. He deserves a place in Formula 1 in my opinion.”

With Nicholas Latifi’s issues and inconsistencies at Williams, it seemed that de Vries might be replacing the Canadian. However, developments since the Monza weekend have been speedy. 

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Reports now indicate that the Dutchman will be heading over to AlphaTauri. The team is looking for a replacement for their current driver, Pierre Gasly. Gasly, on the other hand, looks to be Alpine-bound.

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While it is difficult to take a call on the F1 drivers’ roulette, it can be said without a doubt that de Vries’ call up to F1 was a long time coming. He will be hoping to make the most of it.