De Vries had to get into Alex Albon’s Williams at Monza from FP3 onwards after the Anglo-Thai driver suffered appendicitis.
Despite his limited career in the FW44, he hardly made a single misstep and enjoyed a solid run to ninth in the points-scoring race on his F1 debut.
The timing of De Vries’ debut couldn’t have been better, as it was clear that Colton Herta, the original choice as a potential replacement who would allow Red Bull to drop Pierre Gasly at Alpine, would not get a superlicence.
Immediately after the Italian GP, de Vries traveled to Austria to meet Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko and the first steps towards a deal were taken.
“This had a big influence, because it showed his potential,” Tost said of the Italian GP. “He had a fantastic race, he didn’t make any mistakes and so it was an easy decision to make.
“Monza was important, but it wasn’t revealing, because Nyck was also on the radar before.
“With the special circumstances of other drivers leaving their teams, Red Bull also decided not to race Pierre Gasly from 2024, all of these components together led us to the decision that Nyck de Vries is the best possibility and that he will fit in quite well. . in the team.”
Explaining why de Vries turned to Red Bull, Tost said: “Because he’s fast! I know his story, I saw him in karting, he won the European and world karting championships in 2010 and 2011, and then he was very successful in all the categories in which he raced.
“He won Formula Renault [2.0]Formula 2, also in Formula E, and therefore I think he is a very skilled driver, and he deserves to be in Formula 1. We are really looking forward to having him in our car.
Tost believes that given his overall experience, de Vries will catch up quickly next season.
“I hope that this learning period will be reduced to a couple of tests. That means I expect it to be very competitive from the first race onwards in 2023.”
Tost admitted that even in his first year, de Vries will have the opportunity to become a team leader alongside Yuki Tsunoda, who is already confirmed for his third AlphaTauri campaign.
“The direction of the team depends also on the performance of the car,” he said. “If we have a good car, it’s easy for both drivers. If we have problems with the car, I think it won’t be that easy to fix everything because Nyck doesn’t have much experience in F1 and Yuki is still learning.
“I think Yuki next year should be measured enough to give technical guidance.
“However, I expect a lot from Nyck because he has experience in racing categories where he won races and championships and so if the car works out I think we will have a successful year.”