Nyck de Vries has confirmed that he has met with Helmut Marko with a view to joining AlphaTauri.
On Saturday, Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported that the driver, who made a sensational F1 debut at Monza last week when he stood in for Alex Albon, had visited Red Bull motorsport consultant, Helmut Marko at his office in Graz.
France's AUTOHebdo subsequently tweeted that it was able to confirm that the meeting took place, adding that "they are said to have agreed on a move of the 27-year-old Dutchman to AlphaTauri next season, where he is expected to race alongside Yuki Tsunoda."
The speculation followed Marko's admission that the failure to obtain an exemption from the FIA over Colton Herta's superlicence had caused Red Bull to give up on its plan to bring the American to F1 (with AlphaTauri).
Ahead of the summer break, Mercedes boss, Toto Wolff said that there was no future for the Dutch youngster at Mercedes F1 team, following his FP1 outing at Paul Ricard where he replaced Lewis Hamilton.
"If we are not able to provide him with an interesting Formula One project, in a way we need to let him go," Wolff told Sky Sports, two days after de Vried finished an impressive ninth in the practice session.
"He's looking at various options," the Austrian continued, "Sportscars and maybe Formula E, but you must never give up on the opportunity that one day a Formula One door can open and today was very good.
"I can't really help him," he insisted. "We can't really tell any team to look at him and consider him because that would be felt like an interference and that goes the contrary way."
However, following his impressive race debut in Italy he has become hot property and linked with numerous teams, most notably Williams who see him as the perfect teammate to Alex Albon.
Speaking to Dutch TV show Humberto op Zaterdag however, whilst admitting to talks with Williams, and confirming that he had met with Marko, de Vries, who is testing with Alpine later this month, insisted that a place on the 2023 grid is not a foregone conclusion as it is certainly not him who will ultimately decide.
"I don't quite know if I am in such a luxury situation that I can choose," he said. "Largely, that is beyond my control.
"I have been in talks with Williams for a long time," he continued, "and I was also able to make my debut there last weekend. That would be a logical step.
"Alpine I have been in contact with since July, and I will test for them in Budapest next week. I will fly there on Monday. And as the media had noticed yesterday, I went to Austria to meet Helmut Marko. Those are the facts.
"Wherever I can get a permanent seat, I would be very happy with that," he admitted. "We have to see how it will develop in the coming days and weeks. As I said, it is not entirely in my control.
"In this world not everything is about performance, but there is momentum now. That makes a difference, but it does not guarantee a seat. We are not that far yet."
Referring to Monza he said: "The weekend itself was fantastic and went by in a flash. It was a dream come true and we finished it successfully.
"What happened afterwards, I couldn't really imagine," he added. "On Monday afternoon, I was back to reality myself fairly quickly. I'm busy with the future now. But all the messages and congratulations I received were very special. It's nice to receive the support from everyone."
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