Red Bull’s sister team, Alpha Tauri have reached an agreement to sign dutch driver Nyck de Vries for the 2023 season, according to reports in France.
According to Canal+, Nyck will partner with Yuki Tsunoda at Alpha Tauri which frees Pierre Gasly to join Alpine, discussions which have been taking place for a while now. The French side has been looking for a new driver ever since Fernando Alonso announced he would be leaving the team to move to Aston Martin at the start of the summer break.
The rumour of De Vries moving to Alpha Tauri was ignited after IndyCar driver Colton Herta was denied a superlicence by the FIA. The dutchman impressed on his long-awaited F1 debut last time out at the Italian Grand Prix when he was asked to fill in for Alex Albon who was admitted to hospital with appendicitis.
Nyck earned himself a P9 finish and put himself firmly in the running in terms of potential seats for 2023 and reports are flooding in that a deal between himself and Alpha Tauri is done. While it remains unofficial, there are reasons to believe this was coming as De Vries admitted he had flown to Austria to speak with Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko.
If these deals are indeed done, there will be just two seats on the grid remaining for next year – one at Haas and one at Williams.
Rumours of Haas eyeing up former Renault and current Aston Martin reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg, which would leave current driver Mick Schumacher potentially out of a seat for 2023.
With Nyck De Vries unlikely to be still in the F1 Driver shop window, Williams may have to expand their horizons, or give Williams Academy driver Logan Sargeant an early promotion, if he can secure the points needed for a superlicence.