I was Lewis Hamilton’s F1 understudy earning more than £1.5m a year… now I’m making drastic change studying at Harvard

LEWIS HAMILTON’s former understudy used to rake in more than £1.5million as an F1 Driver.

But after losing his seat as an Alpha Tauri driver this season – he has embarked on a drastic career change according to Racing News 365.

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De Vries has swapped the paddock for Harvard[/caption]

Nyck De Vries revealed that he has swapped the paddock for the lecture halls of Harvard as he has gone back to university to complete his education.

The Dutchman said: “I’ve never studied before in my life, in fact, I didn’t even finish high school.

“But in September I’m going to take a course at Harvard. Negotiation and Leadership, a little bit of studying. More because I just like it now that I have some time and the interest to learn other things.”

Many thought the Dutchman was hard done by to lose his seat as an Alpha Tauri driver, with the Red Bull team moving ruthlessly to replace him after results were not up to the required standard.

De Vries was replaced by Daniel Ricciardo after just 10 races this season as he was one of only two drivers not to secure a top-10 finish alongside Williams’ rookie Logan Sargeant.

The decision of Red Bull to bring Ricciardo in dashed De Vries dreams of becoming an established F1 driver having won both the F2 and Formula E Championships before getting his Formula One break aged 27.

When asked by Racing News 365 if his dismissal was tough to take, De Vries said: “Actually [it was] not.

“I had a lot of support and it actually went very naturally. I’ve been playing a lot of golf since then.”

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De Vries was previously a reserve driver for Mercedes where he tested for Lewis Hamilton.

And Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is an executive fellow and guest lecturer at the Harvard Business School – where De Vries will now study.

Wolff has helped teach MBA students a case study led by Harvard Business School professor Anita Elberse entitled ‘Toto Wolff and the Mercedes Formula One Team’.

So it may be the case that while De Vries was dealt with ruthlessly by Red Bull, his former boss Wolff is still looking out for him.

De Vries is not the only former F1 driver heading back to study.

Former Williams driver Nicholas Latifi announced last month he was starting an MBA course at the London Business School.