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Toto Wolff’s former Lewis Hamilton back-up plan Nyck de Vries will be racing in Formula E in 2024, despite once being branded as the Mercedes team principal’s ‘insurance policy’ by rally driver Tom Coronel.De Vries was once a hot property on the feeder series ladder, winning the Formula 2 title in 2019 at the third time of asking following a trophy-laden karting career that saw him added to the McLaren driver academy back in 2010.Despite winning the F2 title, it was vice-champion Nicholas Latifi who made the step up to F1 with Williams while De Vries opted to join Mercedes’ Formula E operation, kicking off a fruitful partnership between the two parties. After impressing during his debut campaign in the series, the Dutchman was promoted to the role of reserve driver, sharing those duties with Formula E team-mate and former McLaren F1 driver Stoffel Vandoorne. This role continued into the 2022 season, during which he made his FP1 debut with Williams in Barcelona, before driving for Mercedes in France and Mexico.Click here to join our WhatsApp community to be the first to receive breaking and exclusive F1 news.Discussing De Vries’ chances of making the step up at Mercedes during the 2022 season, Coronel told RacingNews365: “If Lewis Hamilton stops, Nyck de Vries will get the seat. Do you know why? As I’ve been saying for a year, Nyck is Toto Wolff’s insurance policy.”Of course, he has already experienced it once with Rosberg. I don’t want to say he ‘uses’ Nyck, but that’s why he keeps him close to him. This is a boy who is doing everything he should have done. He has won all the championships he should have won.”Coronel later added: “If you look at his track record and if you see what he’s still doing now, Nyck never lacked anything compared to the other drivers. That’s exactly what you get”However, De Vries never got the chance to succeed Hamilton at Mercedes. Instead, a memorable, points-scoring debut as a substitute for Williams’ Alex Albon at the Italian Grand Prix prompted Helmut Marko to sign him for AlphaTauri ahead of the 2023 season.The celebrations were short-lived, though, as De Vries struggled to acclimatise to the difficult AT04, struggling against team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, who was entering his third year with the team. After ten underwhelming races, the 28-year-old found himself on the chopping block and Daniel Ricciardo replaced him for the Hungarian Grand Prix onwards.De Vries announced his racing return at the end of 2023, signing for Mahindra as he prepares for the second Formula E debut of his career. Once seen as a future Mercedes driver, the Dutchman’s chances of driving in F1 again are looking extremely slim.
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