Inside de Vries’ F1 debut dream

When Mercedes’ Formula E champion de Vries rocked up in the Monza paddock on Friday no one could have predicted the rollercoaster weekend that would lie ahead of him.

As part of his Mercedes duties, de Vries was made available to its partner teams for a reserve role and took the wheel of Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin in first practice.

He had been praised by Vettel and the team for his feedback but was set to spend the rest of the weekend all but twiddling his…