by Alex Johnston
Liam Lawson substituted for the Daniel Ricciardo at Zandvoort making his F1 debut! In this article, I'll take a look a 3 previous last minute driver changes from recent history!
Nyck De Vries - 2022 Italian Grand Prix
When Williams' Alex Albon suffered a bout of appendicitis in 2022, the Grove team called on the services of Dutch Mercedes reserve driver Nyck De Vries, who then was the reigning Formula E Champion.
De Vries impressed on what was his F1 debut, qualifying 13th place and taking a 9th place finish and the Driver of the Day Award.
This raced proved to be a successful audition for F1 and Alpha Tauri acted quick to snap up the 2019 Formula 2 champion for whom he raced 10 times before being replaced by...you guessed it, Daniel Ricciardo.
📸 De Vries in the Alpha Tauri that Lawson will debut in.
Nico Hülkenberg - 2020 British, 70th Anniversary and Eifel Grand Prix's
The ultimate supersub, Nico Hülkenberg was called up 3 times in 2020 for Racing Point replacing Sergio Perez(British & 70th Anniversary) and Lance Stroll(Eifel) as they suffered from bouts of COVID.
At the British GP, he qualified P13 but suffered an issue pre race and was unable to start. A week later, he stunned the grid by hauling the RP20 to 3rd in qualifying, ending the race P7 behind teammate Stroll after suffering wear issues with his tyres.
📸 Hülkenberg qualified 3rd for Racing Point at the 70th Anniversary GP.
The most 'last minute' of his Racing Point call ups came at the Nurburgring for the Eifel GP, stepping in on time for qualifying, but ended the session P20. In the race, he'd move the RP20 up to P8 as he replaced Stroll, and ended up as the fans' Driver of the Day.
📸 Hülkenberg was the star of the show at the Eifel Grand Prix, gaining 12 positions.
His performances talked him in to contention for a Red Bull seat in 2021 but the Austrian team plumped for Sergio Perez.
Jenson Button - 2017 Monaco Grand Prix
Less than a year after leaving the McLaren team, 2009 F1 World Champion Jenson Button found himself back in the set up of the Woking based team for the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix as he replaced another world champion in Fernando Alonso who was competing in that year's Indy 500.
📸 Button in the McLaren.
Button would have a pretty poor weekend, qualifying 9th but was given a pit lane start for 15 place penalty for exceeding the engine component quota. From the back would be a tough ask regardless but Button retired from the race with damage after colliding with Sauber's Pascal Wehrlein who Button flipped in the barrier at Portier. To this day, Button has a 3 place grid penalty for his next race as a result. I suspect he may not serve it any time soon!
📸 Pascal Wehrlein(left) was okay after a scan on his back following Button's(right) ambitious move at Portier.
📸 Image credits: Sky Sports, Fox Sports, Formula Motorsport Limited, Williams Racing, Red Bull Content Pool.
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