According to McLaren CEO Zak Brown, the team will decide on the future of Nyck de Vries this year. After a successful test at the Paul Ricard circuit, a reserve role for the Frisian driver seems promising. Since his dismissal from AlphaTauri in 2023, De Vries has not raced in Formula 1. In the meantime, he drove Formula E and won the constructors’ title in the WEC with Toyota.
A few weeks ago, Nyck de Vries won the constructors’ title in the endurance championship with Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe. However, last weekend he swapped the Toyota GR010 Hybrid for another racing car. The 29-year-old Frisian drove a few test laps in France in the MCL36, McLaren’s 2022 Formula 1 car. In a conversation with Viaplay, Zak Brown hinted that a reserve role might be in the cards for De Vries.
‘Long history with McLaren’
“It went very well,” said the American. “You know he has a long history with McLaren. After all, he started his career with us.” Nyck De Vries was part of McLaren’s training program from 2010 to 2019. “We are now going through our TPC program (Testing with Previous Cars) to evaluate a few drivers and De Vries is one of those drivers.” The Brits may be looking for a new reserve driver, as Gabriel Bortoleto is set to move to Sauber.
According to Brown, McLaren is testing ‘various factors’ regarding future team drivers. “We are looking for people for the simulator, test drivers and are also conducting tire tests at the same time,” the CEO explained. “Unfortunately, they didn’t ask me for that,” he joked. “Fortunately, Nyck de Vries is a great talent. We wanted to get to know him again and he did very well. So we’ll see what comes of it.” Finally, Brown was asked when a decision will be made about the future of De Vries. “Probably at the end of the year,” he replied.
