Nyck de Vries cleared in his legal battle
Opposed to a real estate magnate, Nyck de Vries was cleared by the Amsterdam court in relation to a $250,000 loan.
The AlphaTauri driver will be able to approach his first full season calmly. Nyck de Vries has been cleared of any wrongdoing in the case of a loan contracted with a real estate magnate.
In 2018, Jeroen Schothorst granted a loan of $250,000 to the driver who is celebrating his 28th birthday today through his company Investrand in order to help the driver secure a spot in the Prema Formula 2 team.
According to the newspaper “Het Financieele Dagblad”, the contract obligated De Vries to give half of his F1-related earnings to Schothorst. However, the clause would expire if the Dutchman failed to secure a race seat by 2022.
As a reserve and test driver at Mercedes, De Vries had the opportunity to replace Alexander Albon during the Italian Grand Prix at Williams in 2022. He later signed a contract as a regular driver at AlphaTauri for 2023. These are all reasons that, according to Schothorst, suggests that the contract must be respected.
The judge, however, gave his verdict in favor of De Vries, emphasizing that the Dutch driver had never had a permanent contract.
“It is true that he participated in the F1 on September 11, 2022, at the Italian Grand Prix, but he did it as a reserve driver,” commented the judge. “He was not under contract as a race driver at that time. He was only replacing another driver who had appendicitis.”
