A rocky rookie campaign has led Scuderia AlphaTauri to part ways with Nyck de Vries only ten races into the Formula 1 season. According to De Telegraaf, F1 veteran Daniel Ricciardo will step away from his reserve driver role at Red Bull Racing to fill the vacancy at the sister team.
De Vries won the 2019 FIA Formula 2 and 2021 FIA Formula E championships but seemingly booked his ticket into a Formula 1 race seat with an impressive one-off performance at the 2022 Italian Grand Prix. At Monza, Williams Racing called up the 28-year-old Dutch driver to substitute for Alexander Albon who was out due to appendicitis. De Vries finished ninth in the race, one of only five points-scoring finishes for Williams that season. AlphaTauri picked up De Vries for 2023 to replace Alpine-bound Pierre Gasly.
In 2023, De Vries has looked lackluster compared to his teammate Yuki Tsnoda. De Vries sits last in the drivers’ championship with zero points as Tsunoda vastly improved on his erratic, error-filled 2022 campaign. The Japanese driver finds himself with two tenth-place finishes so far, but more importantly with no retirements. In a season where AlphaTauri’s very existence has been up for discussion, the team and Red Bull had to make a move.
Daniel Ricciardo’s participation in a tire test today with Red Bull Racing increased speculation that he would be returned to either replace De Vries or Sergio Perez on the senior team. He was uniquely placed to take over De Vries’ seat as Red Bull’s third driver. The eight-time F1 race winner was bought out of his McLaren contract last year, opted to take a sabbatical from racing and returned to his former team. Now, Ricciardo will make his first start with AlphaTauri in roughly two weeks at the Hungarian Grand Prix.