De Vries: 'Very valuable' to get to look inside three teams

Nyck de Vries says his opportunity to run with three different teams this season in FP1 – Williams, Mercedes and Aston Martin - has not only been a privilege, it's also been a "very valuable" experience.

The Dutchman completed Friday's opening session at Monza with the Aston Martin team in place of Sebastian Vettel, putting 22 laps under his belt in a workout that proved challenging for the Mercedes protégé.

"It was very difficult, we were running with a low downforce package here, the nature of the track, the characteristics of the current generation cars, on top of the low downforce makes it extremely challenging," he said.

"We kind of devoted a majority of the first half of the session to aero data and collection. In the end, I can still be satisfied with what I’ve done. But it was very challenging."

Mercedes is obviously the common link between all three teams that offered de Vries an FP1 outing this season, but the Dutchman took away a variety of knowledge from each experience.

"It might sound cliché, but it’s honestly very valuable to get to look inside three different teams and organisations, see how they operate and approach different things, where they put their emphasis and also feel the difference between the three cars," he said.

"I think it’s been a privilege to get that opportunity and experience under my belt."

• Read also: Mercedes will 'need to let de Vries go' if no F1 deal turns up

The 27-year-old whose credentials include winning the FIA Formula 2 Championship in 2019 and the 2021 Formula E title, still ambitions to race in Formula 1 next season.

But de Vries admits that his potential future as a Grand Prix driver - perhaps with Williams - is out of his hands.

"Time will tell, it's out of my hands, it’s not in my control," he said.

"Obviously it is a dream and I think I would deserve a chance. But ultimately it’s not up to me to decide a driver line-up."

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