"He looked like he’d done 50 Grands Prix before"- Formula E driver 'impressed' by Nyck De Vries' racing skills at 2022 F1 Italian GP

Nyck de Vries' debut performance at Monza has been a surprise to everyone in Formula 1, especially for his fellow driver in Formula E, Sam Bird, who stated that De Vries looked like a professional in the Williams of Alex Albon, a driver with tons of experience in Formula 1. As per Bird:

"He looked like he’d done 50 Grands Prix before. He didn’t look like a rookie out there."

Nyck De Vries was called up by Williams in the nick of time after the practice sessions of the Italian Grand Prix as a replacement for Alex Albon, who had to be hospitalized for a surgery related to appendicitis. Since the Dutchman has been in Formula E for a long time, how he would get acquainted with a Formula 1 car during an actual qualifying session and race was a mystery. Following Williams' performances throughout the season, it wasn't expected that he will perform well enough to battle most drivers on the grid with years of experience in the sport.

However, his performance on the grid was no less than a masterpiece to watch. He out-qualified Nicholas Latifi and launched from P8 on the starting grid due to time penalties on other drivers. On race day, he performed in a way that grabbed the attention of all the spectators. He ended up P9, scoring points on his debut F1 race, which is a tough milestone to achieve.

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Sam Bird impressed by Nyck De Vries' quick adaptation to the Williams

De Vries is a reserve driver for Mercedes and has very less experience with an F1 car. The only time he drove the Williams was back in Spain. However, he was almost perfect with the car even after so long. Bird reflected on De Vries' performance, saying:

"What also impressed me is yes, he’s the Mercedes reserve driver, but he also is the reserve driver for quite a few other teams that use a Mercedes [power] unit currently, which means he needs to know all of their steering wheels, all of their software, all of those engineers, and he’s just slotted back into the Williams car."

Everyone on the grid was impressed by his performance. George Russell, referring to the time the Briton drove the Mercedes in 2020 as a reserve driver after replacing Lewis Hamilton at the Sakhir Grand Prix, stated that Nyck De Vries had to face more difficulty than Russell himself.

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Nyck De Vries could get a permanent seat in F1 in 2023

There have been speculations of Nyck De Vries getting a seat as a full-time driver in 2023. It was initially thought that he might be replacing Latifi in the Williams itself, but current reports say otherwise. Since Pierre Gasly's contract with AlphaTauri ends next year, and he will probably be moving out of the team, it is being speculated that De Vries could get his seat in the team.