What does Alonso's move to Aston Martin mean for De Vries?

Either Aston Martin is extremely quick to reach a new deal with Fernando Alonso, or Sebastian Vettel's decision to retire next year was already in the works for a long time. A day after the weekend in which Vettel announced his retirement, Aston Martin confirmed Alonso as their new driver. It seems that this driver change should have been decided much earlier. The remarkable thing is that Aston Martin revealed just a few weeks ago that the contract negotiations with Vettel went well.

Chances for de Vries may actually increase

After the announcement of Vettel's retirement, an interesting F1 seat suddenly became available for 2023. Among the candidates was Dutchman Nyck de Vries. The Dutchman was even on the shortlist of team principal Mike Krack. With Alonso's move, De Vries' chances have gone, but on the other hand Alpine F1 has a new space to fill. And with the seat race now underway, there may well be a spot at the end of the line for the Formula E champion.

It seems almost certain that Alpine junior Oscar Piastri will get a chance with the team next year. Until today, the Australian seemed to be in with a chance of winning a seat at Williams. Now that his claim to the Williams seat has expired, De Vries may be the next likely candidate. Williams protégé Logan Sargeant will most likely drive another season in Formula 2. That would only pit De Vries against Nicholas Latifi in the battle for the Williams seat. After several seasons of uninteresting performances from Latifi, De Vries is probably the better choice of the two.