AlphaTauri welcomed its recently signed new driver Nyck de Vries to Faenza this week, the Dutchman losing no time in preparing for his maiden F1 season as he underwent his first seat fitting with the team.
De Vries was signed up by Red Bull for 2023 in the wake of his impressive F1 debut with Williams at last month's Italian Grand Prix.
The former FIA Formula 2 Champion and Formula E world champion will replace Alpine-bound Pierre Gasly at AlphaTauri, with Japanese charger Yuki Tsunoda remaining onboard with the Italian outfit for a third season.
De Vries' seat fitting suggested that the 27-year-old would perhaps be handed an FP1 outing with AlphaTauri in one of this season's remaining races.
But so far, such an opportunity isn't in the team's plans according to team boss Franz Tost.
"Currently it's not planned to do an FP1 session with Nyck, and I think that we will do another F1 session with Liam Lawson, in America or in Mexico," said the Austrian.
As for the Dutchman's prospects for 2023, Red Bull motorsport boss Helmut Marko believes de Vries could assume a leading role at AlphaTauri even despite Tsunoda's greater experience.
"Yuki is still young and doesn't have that experience technically, so Nyck can lead the team," said Marko, quoted by Motorsport.com.
"We'll see how it goes next year in practice, but judging by his experiences and personality, Nyck should be the team leader."
seat fit time for @nyckdevries 👌 welcome to Faenza! 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/pCHGSJNQmH
— Scuderia AlphaTauri (@AlphaTauriF1) October 14, 2022
A former McLaren junior driver, de Vries struggled to remain in the sport, but Marko believes the Dutchman's fighting spirit and relative maturity will serve him well in F1.
"Nyck may not be the youngest anymore, but he has gained a lot of experience," said the Austrian.
"He had to work very hard to come back after that period with McLaren, and that shows that he is very determined.
"He had to fight back after a kind of a break in his career, which means he can fight, and that's an important quality for us.
"I was very impressed with his team radios when he got into Vettel's car [with Aston martin in FP1 in Monza].
"I listened to the radio, and the comments he made were very good. Before that race, Nyck was not on our first list, or shall I say not in the first place.
"But what we saw of him at Monza did change things..."
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