Nyck de Vries, still without a defined future in the category, is waiting for the Formula E calendar to know if he will continue on the grid next year. Toyota's driver in the WEC, the reigning champion hopes that there will be no conflict of dates and is negotiating with Maserati
Nyck de Vries' future in Formula E has been a real unknown, since his team - Mercedes - will leave the grid at the end of the current season to be incorporated by McLaren, which is embarking on its first venture in the category. So, with no vacancies available in Formula 1 and out of the British team's plans, the Dutchman still does not have, at least officially, a team to drive in 2023.
However, this may change quickly. According to information from the British portal The Race, negotiations are underway for the reigning champion to move to Maserati, which intends to keep Edoardo Mortara next year. De Vries would then replace Brazilian Lucas Di Grassi in the Monegasque team.
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Although Maserati is not currently part of the grid, Mortara belongs to Venturi - which will be incorporated by the traditional automaker next year, something similar to the deal between Mercedes and McLaren.
De Vries' future had become a real unknown. The driver has never made much of a point of hiding that he would like to be in Formula 1, but since Alexander Albon was chosen as Nicholas Latifi's double, that possibility seems to have cooled off even more for the 2019 F2 champion.
But why was De Vries left out of the plans of McLaren - a team he has defended in the past? Toyota's reserve driver in the WEC since 2020, the reigning Formula E champion is waiting for an opportunity as a starter for the Japanese carmaker in next year's World Endurance Championship, and the Woking team would not be willing to see one of its drivers split between two competitions - even running the risk of a clash of dates.
By the time it became clear that McLaren would not like to have a driver split in two races, the grid situation was already complicated for De Vries, with few seats available.His current teammate Stoffel Vandoorne has already secured a transfer to the new DS Penske next year with Jean-Èric Vergne, currently in DS Techeetah.
Several other moves have also taken place in the meantime, such as Robin Frijns' move from Envision to Abt and Sébastien Buemi's departure from Nissan to replace the Dutchman as Nick Cassidy's teammate in the green team. As a result, the Japanese team and Maserati are now the only options for the driver on the Formula E grid.
On Wednesday (28), the provisional calendar for the 2022/2023 Formula E season is expected to be presented at the FIA's World Motor Racing Council, which could be decisive for De Vries' future. Should the category dates not be in planning to clash with WEC, the Dutchman is even closer to a deal with Maserati.