Nyck de Vries is thrilled that he "grabbed this opportunity with both hands" after producing an impressive performance on his Formula 1 debut.
When Alex Albon was diagnosed with appendicitis and taken to hospital for surgery on Saturday, he was the man they turned to. De Vries was already at the track, having taken part in FP1 for Aston Martin, and drove a Williams in practice earlier this year.
Expectations were not too high, given it was his competitive debut in F1. But he very much made the most of the opportunity to impress by finishing ninth – scoring two championship points for Williams and securing their best result of the season do far.
De Vries is very much in the frame for a race seat in 2023, and one of the remaining open spots is at Williams as Albon's team-mate. "Ultimately, it's not up to me to decide whether I should have a seat or not. Of course, I can only do my job," he said after the race.
"We live in a competitive industry, so you're as good as your last race, and you're always expected to perform – luckily I did that this weekend and I grabbed this opportunity with both hands."
For a brief time after the race, his result was at threat as he was summoned to the stewards accused of "erratic driving" during the late safety car period. He was reprimanded as a result, but the fact he was a stand-in rather than a regular competitor saved him from a harsher punishment which might otherwise have knocked him out of the points positions.
"The driver advised that after the second lap under the safety car he was unsure about why his display was showing he was at risk of being under the delta time," the stewards wrote in their verdict. "At the same time, he was dealing with brake issues and was in radio contact with the team over this issue, so did not get any advice from the team in relation to his delta.
"He therefore reduced speed in order to remain above the delta time. The stewards took note of the fact the driver was a 'last minute' replacement for the usual team driver and had driven this car for the first time in FP3 at this event. Therefore, in mitigation, the stewards decide to impose the penalty of a reprimand instead of a higher penalty."
Reacting to his performance, de Vries added: "I acknowledge we had a little bit of luck with some of the grid penalties and also some of the retirements, but sometimes you've got to take those and we definitely capitalised on our opportunity and we scored points. Nobody can take those away from us and I'm just proud and happy we took this opportunity."
