Mercedes gives $1 million worth driver as loan to AlphaTauri to test on their 2022 car

Tanish Chachra | 22/11/2022
Mercedes gives $1 million worth driver as loan to AlphaTauri to test on their 2022 car

Nyck de Vries for 2023 will be driving for AlphaTauri, as he was deemed as the Dutchman seems to be the fitting replacement for Alpine-bound Pierre Gasly.

The Mercedes driver’s incredible performance in Monza for Williams was the deal breaker for him. It convinced the Red Bull bosses to have him in the junior team and see a viable investment in him.

Max Verstappen also apparently had a role in him getting at the Fonza-based team. According to the F1 2022 champion, he convinced his compatriot to call Red Bull chief Helmut Marko which made the F1 ball move for him.

Also read: George Russell believes he can be world champion after defeating Lewis Hamilton in 2022

AlphaTauri takes a loan from Mercedes

The contract between AlphaTauri and Vries obligates the latter to join the team in 2023. However, he has already entered their establishment and will test their 2022 car AT03 on Tuesday.

Thus, it means Vries was permitted to visit AlphaTauri’s factory to work with them. AlphaTauri on social media publically thanked their rivals Mercedes for the ‘loan’ while sharing a picture of their driver working.

The $1 million net worth driver is not the only one in the paddock to start working with their new teams even 24 hours before having the last race with their current organizations. Gasly was seen working with Alpine on Monday, and as soon as the race ended, Fernand Alonso went to Aston Martin’s hospitality.

Nyck de Vries was parcelled to AlphaTauri

Mercedes didn’t have a good season as per their standards. But the team bosses agree that there was massive learning while struggling to be their former selves this year.

Nevertheless, there were still celebrations in their paddock. After the race,  Mercedes’ crew threw Vries in the marina, as it’s their tradition with every parting driver,  and later even tied him to a trolley and parcelled him to the AlphaTauri garage.

The video soon got viral on social media. Though, it wasn’t expected by fans for Alphatauri to receive the parcel literally and start working with him at their home.

Also read: Chrisitan Horner diminishes Sergio Perez’s chances of beating Red Bull teammate in 2023

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
AlphaTauri Mercedes Nyck de Vries Red Bull

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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