Nyck de Vries says he's concentrating on Formula E despite links to replace Lewis Hamilton in F1

Current Formula E champion Nyck de Vries has said that he is not thinking about Lewis Hamilton's future in Formula 1, despite being touted as a potential replacement for the Briton if he decides to leave the sport before the 2022 season.

Hamilton has gone into a state of silence since the end of the 2021 campaign, with him losing out on a record-breaking eighth world title on the last lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen taking the championship in dramatic, controversial circumstances.

Certainly, speculation has been strong since that Hamilton is considering his future in Formula 1 and that he may even decide against competing in 2022, with a number of names being put forward as potential replacements if that is the course of action he ends up taking.

Among them is Formula E and Mercedes competitor De Vries, with the Dutchman having had tests for the Mercedes Formula 1 team in the recent past.

However, with the new Formula E season beginning at the end of this week in Saudi Arabia, it seems as though he is fully focused on defending his crown in that, rather than making the switch to F1:

"I don't care about that.

"We're working on Saudi Arabia so I don't think there's room for me to think about those sorts of scenarios," he told the Dutch publication Formule 1.

He's playing that down, then, whilst he also went on to say that he felt Red Bull driver Max Verstappen deserved the championship based on the course of the whole season:

"Max is a fantastic driver who earned that championship 100 percent.

"He really is a worthy world champion.

"I think everyone agrees with that. On that Sunday in Abu Dhabi, Lewis did everything he could to win it, and decisions were made that have never been applied in that way.

"