Nyck de Vries paid tribute to his fellow Dutchman Max Verstappen and the role he played in helping him to land a Formula 1 race seat for the first time.
He will race for AlphaTauri in 2023, despite interest from Williams after an impressive performance on his F1 debut when filling in for Alex Albon at Monza. Speaking about how that move came about, de Vries revealed Verstappen was the one who pulled some strings at Red Bull for his countryman.
"Max and I have a great relationship," he said. "Obviously, we are from a similar era, he is a little bit younger than me but we grew up in karting, we are both Dutch and the way he was approaching racing with his father, driving around in a van though Europe, I think was very much like ours.
"We live for the sport and we respect each other a lot as drivers, although he is a world champion, and the best in our sport at the moment I'm there. Even though he's a little bit younger, it almost felt like he has acted as my older brother, we had dinner after the Monza event together in Monaco and we talked about the possibilities and opportunities.
"That resulted in having a conversation with [Red Bull adviser] Dr Helmut Marko, we met that same week in Austria. I've always listened to people around me and knowledge is very important in this industry and I think sometimes you see people holding that cause very close to the chest."
De Vries raced alongside the likes of Albon, Carlos Sainz, George Russell and Pierre Gasly during his karting days. He went on the become F2 champion but there was still no room for him in the top series and, at the age of 27, it was beginning to look like his chance may never come.
To keep his hand in he has been a reserve for Mercedes. That role gave him a number of opportunities to test F1 cars and take part in some FP1 sessions, and also led to him being the man called up by Williams when Albon fell ill in Italy.
Mercedes technical director Mike Elliott is pleased for the Dutchman, but appeared to disapprove of his move to a Red Bull-backed team. "I'm very happy that Nyck has this opportunity – It might be a shame to see where he's going, but it's no different," he told Motorsport.com.
"I think he deserves this chance. He has shown to be an excellent driver. It was brilliant to have him in the pit box. He is a very nice guy, really knows what it is all about and understands the car. I think he's been very honourable in the way he's dealt with us, so there's no need to worry."
Meanwhile, de Vries is simply grateful to have the opportunity to race for any team after admitting he was starting to think his F1 career might never even begin. "I will admit that there were certain times in my career that I thought it was very unlikely for me to still get a chance," he added.
"Especially when I won Formula 2 and moved into a different direction in Formula E. It was not a kind of a common path towards Formula 1 but somehow I always kept the kind of foot in the door and I think what really defines my career is that I've always taken every opportunity that came my way and came down my path.
"Of course I'm still lacking a little bit of Formula 1 experience – there are quite a lot of tracks on the calendar which are still unknown for me but in terms of the maturity and overall racing experience, I have gained a lot. All the racing I have been doing in the last years, in endurance and in Formula E, have prepared me in the best possible way in every area."
