Who are the drivers that have scored points on their F1 debut?
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Nyck de Vries
In Monza, Nyck de Vries had a weekend to remember for a long time. After driving his third FP1 session of the year, this time with Aston Martin, he was thrown into the Williams car for qualifying and the race after Alex Albon’s appendicitis diagnosis, and he certainly delivered during the race.
de Vries started the race in P7 and was eventually able to finish P9 in his F1 debut. This brought him immense acclaim for other drivers and also meant that he is currently ahead of Nicholas Latifi in the championship by 2 points. Not only that, things only seem to be getting better for the Dutchman, and he is supposedly the frontrunner for a seat at AlphaTauri as Pierre Gasly’s replacement (who will join Alpine).
His points finish at the Italian Grand Prix has also got him another achievement: He is one of the drivers who scored points in their F1 debut race. On the current grid, there are 6 drivers that have done so, and 2 of them even scored a podium finish.
Also Read: Nyck de Vries nears an AlphaTauri move after holding reported talks with Helmut Marko
Nyck de Vries joins the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz
At the start of the year, Zhou Guanyu had also finished in the points in his first F1 race, with a P10 finish, something he repeated in Monza, this time behind Nyck de Vries. It was certainly a dream debut for Zhou, and a great weekend for Alfa Romeo, as Valtteri Bottas also finished 6th. Unfortunately, the Chinese driver had to wait till Canada to get his next taste of points with a P8.
Yuki Tsunoda also took points in Bahrain last year, which was also his debut F1 race. Carlos Sainz, currently at Ferrari, but who was then driving for Toro Rosso also scored points in his debut in the 2015 Australian GP. There’s also Sebastian Vettel, when he replaced Robert Kubica at the 2007 US Grand Prix, finished P8, and scored points on his debut.
But of the current grid, two drivers especially stand out: Kevin Magnussen and Lewis Hamilton, both did it with McLaren, both did it in Australia, and both qualified in fourth place. For Hamilton, he finished P3, with his teammate Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen ahead of him.
Kevin Magnussen had a completely spectacular debut. He finished P2 after Daniel Ricciardo was disqualified for breaching the maximum fuel limit, in a race that Nico Rosberg inaugurated the Mercedes era. Fairytale is probably not enough to describe what happened in Melbourne that weekend.
Also Read: ‘There was a bit more in there,’ Nyck De Vries dishes out harsh assessment of his F1 debut
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)