“I felt like I adapted quickly,” Nyck De Vries satisfied after driving Mercedes in FP1 at Paul Ricard

“I felt like I adapted quickly,” Nyck De Vries satisfied after driving Mercedes in FP1 at Paul Ricard

Nyck de Vries

During FP1 in France today, Mercedes’ reserve driver, Nyck De Vries was in Lewis Hamilton’s seat, testing the car out on Paul Ricard. This is not the first time that the Dutchman has driven a F1 car this season, during the Spanish Grand Prix, he shared the seat with Alex Albon in his Williams. Nyck currently competes in the FIA Formula E championship; a completely electric form of motorsport. The session was both satisfactory and exciting for the driver. Although he made a few mistakes, those are understandable as he is not a full time Formula 1 driver. 

Watch: Nyck de Vries Team Radio After P9 in FP1 French Grand Prix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw1hJKzOiFo

De Vries knows Paul Ricard well, and that helped him in clocking in some really impressive lap times. Hamilton and Toto Wolff analyzed his performance, and the team was satisfied with him. Mostly, it is hard for test drivers to even drive faster than the top 15 drivers, as we saw Robert Kubika in the Alfa Romeo, who replaced Bottas in FP1 and was 19th on the fastest lap scores; even so, De Vries had the 9th fastest lap overall, and so, he was extremely satisfied with his performance. 

FS Video

Also read: Toto Wolff: “Many team principals are one-trick ponies”

Nyck De Vries felt the difference in downforce

Nyck De Vries in Hamilton's W13
Nyck De Vries in Hamilton’s W13

Nyck felt that he adapted to the car relatively quickly, which made him finish P9, and even though the temperatures were high at the track, he called it a “cool and great” experience. “I felt like I adapted fairly quickly,” GPBlog quoted him, “I felt the whole session was very competitive and actually felt good. I was disappointed with the second on the soft. But generally it was a good session,” he concluded. 

He also talked about the experience of driving this new generation of Formula 1 cars, and he stated that he was amazed by the downforce on the W13, and called the level of grip “different” than what he is used to in Formula E. 

Also read: “Trying lots of parts but lacking pace,” Toto Wolff admits Mercedes is still behind Red Bull and Ferrari

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