Former Formula 1 driver Nyck de Vries has lost a lawsuit against ‘Investrand’. The investment company of entrepreneur Jeroen Schothorst supported the Dutchman financially years ago, after which a legal dispute arose. As a result, De Vries has to cough up an amount of around 250,000 euros, the Telegraaf reports.
Schothorst filed a lawsuit against De Vries because the driver did not want to repay previously obtained financial support to Investrand, the former’s company. The investment company lent De Vries 250,000 euros in 2018, agreeing that the 28-year-old Dutchman would not have to repay the amount if he was not active in Formula 1 before the end of 2022. De Vries was appointed as a driver at the then AlphaTauri in 2023 and so in his view the repayment period had expired.
However, Schothorst did not agree to this. Since De Vries was already a reserve driver at Mercedes in ’22 and made his debut in Monza for Williams in F1, the owner of Investrand suggested that his compatriot was obliged to repay the amount. Schothorst went to the Amsterdam District Court, which ultimately ruled in his favor and ruled that De Vries could effectively be considered an F1 driver in 2022.
The sanction
De Vries got the short end of the stick in court and must therefore repay the 250,000 euros to Investrand. Interest is also charged on top of the astronomical amount. The Dutch driver, currently active in Formula E, will also have to hand over fifty percent of his wages, obtained in F1 after the end of 2022, to Schothorst, following a clause in the contract signed in 2018.
“We supported Nyck at a crucial moment in his career, when no one else wanted to do so,” Schothorst explains. ‘I am happy that the judge has ruled in our favor, although I of course regret that this procedure was necessary. We would have preferred to reach a settlement without procedures through proper consultation, but unfortunately our attempts to do so were repeatedly rejected by Nyck and his lawyer. This made going to court inevitable. That does not alter the fact that I wish Nyck all possible success in the continuation of his already impressive motorsport career, even though it will no longer be in Formula 1.’
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