Nyck De Vries is close to securing a full-time seat at AlphaTauri in 2023, according to reports.
It has been a whirlwind week for the Dutchman, who scored points on his Formula 1 debut last weekend at Monza after only stepping in for Alex Albon at Williams on Saturday morning.
De Vries’ impressive performance immediately led to suggestions it was an easy choice for Williams to sign him in place of Nicholas Latifi for next season.
However, the former F2 and Formula E champion is also linked to Alpine and will take part in a test with that team in Hungary on Monday.
Perhaps, the most unexpected and yet most likely outcome though is a deal with AlphaTauri after meeting Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko in Graz this week.
This comes after the Austrian had to abandon plans to sign Colton Herta due to the lack of an F1 superlicence but is in need of a replacement for Pierre Gasly, who is still expected to join Alpine for 2023.
And according to several media reports, that meeting went well with perhaps only the formalities left to confirm a deal.
But while De Vries would be the perfect choice for AlphaTauri, his current ties to Mercedes could be a potential stumbling block.
Toto Wolff has previously indicated he will let De Vries go to enable him to achieve his F1 dream.
But seeing him take his several years of Mercedes experience with him into the Red Bull camp might just be a trickier pill to swallow.
