Nyck de Vries vowed to "make his own history" with AlphaTauri as he discussed filling the shoes of Pierre Gasly in the team.
The Frenchman enjoyed plenty of success with the Red Bull sister team despite his struggles in his brief spell racing for Christian Horner's outfit. Upon his return to AlphaTauri, Gasly found form again and cemented his place as one of the top midfield drivers on the grid.
He finished second in Brazil towards the end of that 2019 season, and took his maiden Formula 1 victory the following year at Monza. Having decided to begin a new chapter of his career, Gasly is now racing for Alpine and trying to push the Enstone squad closer to the front of the grid.
De Vries is the man who replaces him at AlphaTauri this year and has no worries about replacing a driver who brought so much success to the team. He told Mirror Sport : "I think everyone is different and you should always be yourself. I believe that I can bring value to the team and I really enjoyed seeing Pierre here.
"They obviously had many good seasons together, including the win in Monza and podiums in Imola, Brazil, Baku... they definitely have a nice history together. It's a new chapter for everyone and I guess we'll make our own history in the future."
AlphaTauri endured a difficult 2022 campaign and finished ninth in the standings, while the evidence from these first few weeks of the new campaign hint that it could be another tough one. De Vries finished 14th in Bahrain and has had a disrupted weekend so far in Jeddah.
He missed the entirety of FP3 when the team found a problem which necessitated a power unit change. And, on a track where he has never raced before, the Dutchman qualified 18th and faces a tough task in the quest for points.
Nevertheless, De Vries had no hesitation in setting the bar high for himself and for his team when discussing his ambitions for his first full season as an F1 driver. He said: "I'm confident – I'm a little bit older and have been fortunate to race in many different championships.
"I have seen different Formula 1 teams from the inside and see different cars, so I believe I can bring good value to the team and I hope we can consistently fight for good points this year."
