Nyck de Vries will be in action for
Williams during the first free practice session for the
Spanish Grand Prix this weekend. The Dutchman thus fills the role of the mandatory young driver session for this season.
In 2022, all
Formula 1 teams are required to field a rookie at least twice during free practice for a Grand Prix weekend.
Williams will use the
Spanish Grand Prix to field one such rookie and it is none other than
Nyck de Vries. He will take over from
Alexander Albon during the first free practice session in Spain.
Debut in Spain
This will be the Dutchman's debut in
Formula 1, after winning
Formula 2 and
Formula E. He is currently driving for Mercedes in the FE, but is also on the reserve list for the F1 team. The Dutchman narrowly missed out on a F1 seat in 2022, as Albon was preferred over him at Williams.
The Grove team is now offering the Dutchman a chance to make his F1 debut. It is also a piquant moment, as De Vries has been linked with the underperforming seat of
Nicholas Latifi. A good performance in FP1 would only increase those rumours.