DRIVING FORCE

After a long journey to reach Formula 1, Nyck de Vries has arrived.

- PETER FLAX

For a guy who has spent most of his life piloting a race car along the outermost edge of the laws of physics, Nyck de Vries has had to take his time to reach the highest level of his sport. But now, sitting behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car, the Scuderia AlphaTauri driver is not about to let the opportunity pass him by.

Racing cars is his life's work. De Vries grew up in a small rural town in the north of the Netherlands. His family owned a few Renault dealerships and was into cars, so not surprisingly the kid had an early interest in racing. "My dad bought me a go-kart for my 5th birthday," the 28-year-old racer recalls. "That's how it all started."

Before long, that passion morphed into an obsession, and his talent translated into results. As a teenager, de Vries thrived in international karting competition, winning a world championship in 2011. Many of the young racers who back then were his toughest competitors would go on to successful careers, too. "I would say that 75 percent of the current Formula 1 grid is from my generation," he says, noting that he and Max Verstappen did tons of hard laps together as kids. "I grew up with all of those guys and raced against them at some point during my career."