Ian James, the Team Manager of the McLaren Formula E Team and the former Team Principal of the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team, says Nyck de Vries has ‘richly deserved’ his move to the FIA Formula 1 World Championship in 2023.
De Vries raced for Mercedes and took the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship title in the 2020/21 season under James’ leadership, with the Dutchman taking four wins during his time with the team.
The twenty-seven-year-old made his Formula 1 race debut in the 2022 Italian Grand Prix when he stepped in at the last minute to race in place of an ill Alexander Albon at Williams Racing, with de Vries stunning the paddock by bringing home two points with a ninth-place finish.
This performance, as well as his free practice outings with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team and the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 Team, opened the eyes of everyone in Formula 1, and he was signed by Scuderia AlphaTauri to replace the BWT Alpine F1 Team-bound Pierre Gasly for the 2023 season.
James says Mercedes had their eye on him early on and were keen to bring him into their line-up, and AlphaTauri have acquired a driver who is not only very quick but also an extremely good team player for 2023.
“I think it’s so richly deserved,” said James to Motorsport.com. “He was somebody that we took a look at before coming in for Season 6 and recognised his qualities, not only as a driver, but as a team player.
“Any team that he drives for is going to benefit from that approach. He has a way of saying what needs to be said, pointing out where improvements can be made, but doing it in a diplomatic fashion that doesn’t get people’s backs up.
“And that’s quite an important quality in a driver, and especially as a driver that’s going into a team which maybe hasn’t quite realised its full potential yet and has room to grow.
“I think that he’s going to be very well positioned, notwithstanding Formula 1 is a different series. It’s brutal, and I think he’s going to have his work cut out, but his character I think will stand him in good stead.”
James says de Vries moving from Formula E to Formula 1 is a ‘success story’ for Formula E, as it proves that the championship has the kind of talent – not only the talent of the drivers but the engineers and other staff as well – that would also be successful in other categories.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing him get his teeth into his inaugural season and see how he gets on,” added James. “I think it’s a huge success story for Formula E as well.
“We’ve always been confident in the fact that we’ve got the talent here, be it the drivers, the engineers, that commercial staff and mechanics, that they could quite easily move between different series, whether that be Formula 1, or Formula E, or WEC or whatever it is.
“And this is further proof that the quality of the talent within this paddock is worthy of anything else out there.”
