Nyck de Vries will make what will likely be his last appearance for Mercedes when he drives in FP1 at the Mexican Grand Prix.
The Dutchman has been affiliated with the Silver Arrows since 2019 when he joined their Formula E team and won the world championship in that series last year.
He is also Mercedes’ official reserve driver in Formula 1 but not for very long, as at the end of this season he takes the step to join the Red Bull team as an AlphaTauri driver in 2023.
Nonetheless, Toto Wolff is giving the Dutchman one last W13 adventure at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez to fulfill the mandatory requirement to bleed a rookie driver in two FP1 sessions this season.
De Vries was in Lewis Hamilton’s car for the opening practice of the French Grand Prix and will take over from George Russell for the equivalent session in Mexico.
The 27-year-old made his F1 debut when a late substitute for Alex Albon ill at this year’s Italian Grand Prix and finished ninth to score two points for Williams – one of five times this season where the team achieved a top-10 finish.
“Nyck will replace George in FP1 this weekend as part of the Young Drivers Session allocation,” Mercedes Motorsport chief Wolff said.
“We’re excited to see him back in the W13 and see how he performs.”
De Vries is among several rookie drivers who will be in action at opening testing in the Mexican capital as teams scramble to comply with the newly introduced requirement for this year.
His future team, Alpha Tauriare also doing so with Liam Lawson, who is taking part for the second time after getting a taste of Belgian Grand Prix action.
Alpine will field Jack Doohan in FP1 in Mexico, having opted to keep Oscar Piastri on the sidelines following his decision to snub their offer of a 2023 racing seat to join McLaren. The Australian was also not released to join his new team before his contract expired.
The other two teams running rookies in Round 20 of the campaign are Williams, with their 2023 racing driver Logan Sargeant – super license permitting – and Haas with Pietro Fittipaldi.
Read more: Which teams have not yet entered a junior driver in training in 2022?
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