The Amsterdam District Court has ruled that Nyck De Vries will have to repay the €250,000 loan and also pay half of his salary and all sponsorship income earned during his F1 season with AlphaTauri until July 2023. The Dutchman is considering appealing this decision.
De Vries took out the loan from Jeroen Schothorst's Investrand company in 2018, when, after being dropped from McLaren's young driver programme, he needed to top up his budget to drive in Prema F2.
It was agreed that if De Vries became an active F1 driver by 2022, Investrand would take 50% of his income for as long as he competed at the top level. If he had not arrived in F1 by that date, Investrand would have canceled the loan.
The company then accepted that his activities as a test driver for Mercedes did not count. A complication arose when, for the 2022 Italian GP, De Vries was called in at the last minute as Alex Albon's replacement for Williams.
On that occasion he placed ninth and managed to attract the attention of Red Bull, which led to him getting the AlfaTauri seat for the following year. After losing his seat in mid-2023, De Vries returned to Formula E and WEC with Mahindra and Toyota respectively.
De Vries now races for Mahindra in Formula E, with little success so far
A dispute arose with Investrand regarding its presence at Monza in 2022 and whether or not it was a tender contract or a test activity, as this would have made the difference between paying off the loan and the activation of the 50% agreement.
In a first summary proceeding in January, the judge ruled in favor of De Vries, observing that “it is true that he participated in F1 on 11 September 2022 at the Italian Grand Prix, but he did so as a reserve driver. At that At the time he didn't have a contract as a racing driver. He was simply replacing another driver suffering from appendicitis.”
The judge also backed De Vries on the charge that he had not kept Investrand fully informed about the details of his contracts over the years. De Vries told the media at the time that he had indeed won and hoped the matter would be closed, but Investrand now emphasizes that the January proceedings were mainly about obtaining information and were only a first step towards the main case, which was heard this week at the Amsterdam District Court.
This time the judge ruled in favor of Inverstrand, confirming that De Vries could not rely on the tester contract with Mercedes to nullify his participation in the 2022 Italian GP as a racing driver within the terms of the agreement original. He will then have to repay the loan of 250,000 euros plus interest, as well as half of his 2023 earnings in AlphaTauri.
Nyck de Vries, AlphaTauri AT04
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
“We supported Nyck at a crucial moment in his career, when no one else wanted to,” Schothorst said. I am happy that the judge ruled in our favor, although obviously I am sorry that this procedure was necessary. We would have preferred to reach an agreement without procedures through proper consultation, but unfortunately our attempts to do so were resolutely rejected by Nyck and his lawyer. This made an appeal to the court inevitable. Nonetheless, I wish Nyck all the success possible in the continuation of his already impressive career in motorsport, even if he will no longer be in F1.”
De Vries' lawyer, Jeroen Bedaux, contested the decision, noting that the driver won on some elements, such as the extra payments required until the end of 2022, but also indicated there could still be an appeal. “The court's interpretation of the agreement is not consistent with De Vries' intentions at the time of the agreement,” he told Motorsport.com.
“De Vries has also fully and conscientiously fulfilled his obligations until 2022, as was also confirmed in court. The fact that De Vries was nevertheless ordered to repay the loan and pay the fixed and variable interests relating to the first months of 2023 is therefore in contrast with what was agreed by the parties, which is why De Vries is still evaluating the possibility of doing appeal”.
Furthermore, he suggested that treating the reserve appearance at Monza in 2022 as a race is “a very creative interpretation of the agreement”.
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