Mercedes & Williams Bicker Over Nyck de Vries as the Formula E Driver Impresses at F1 Session

The banter between F1 teams on social media isn’t a new thing. For some reason or the other, teams find a way to tease each other. This time Mercedes was trolling Williams over Mercedes Reserve Driver Nyck de Vries.

The Dutchman made his debut in an official Formula 1 session. As mandated by the FIA, all teams up and down the grid have to give the rookie drivers in their stable a chance to drive the car during two Free Practice sessions this season. 

Hence, De Vries got his chance to drive the William FW44 in the place of Alex Albon during FP1 in Barcelona. While Williams did post pictures of him on their Twitter feed, Mercedes had other thoughts. In confusion, the Grove outfit tweeted at Mercedes, “What’s wrong with our Nyck pics?”

Clocking in a 1m22.920s, in front of Nicholas Latifi, as the chequered flag fell, the session ended well for De Vries. He was very excited to get himself out there and expected it to be very challenging as he got to terms with the FW44. 

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“I’m obviously very thankful and grateful for the opportunity to run in an FP1 session and kind of get to know the team, but also to kind of get myself out there during a Formula 1 weekend,” Nyck said ahead of the session. 

Will De Vries move to Williams in 2023?

The reigning Formula E champion was linked heavily to a move to Formula 1. Given Nicholas Latifi’s difficulty in the season, De Vries was one of the contenders to move into the Canadian’s seat. While this isn’t Nyck’s first rodeo in an F1 car, it was definitely his official one. He has participated in driver’s tests before in Abu Dhabi. 

His future seems a bit all over the place at the moment. As the Mercedes-EQ Formula E team gets acquired by McLaren, it’s unlikely he is to stay with the Silver Arrows. But a move to F1 seems unlikely as the rumors were news to him. “These rumors are new to me,” he explained to GPFans.

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“I have no idea where you read them [the rumors] or where you came across them. But then I’m very curious where they got that from, because honestly, I have no idea.”

He insisted that while Formula 1 remains a dream, his focus would very much like to be on Formula E. Nyck currently sits in 6th position in the Formula E driver standings.