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Daniel Ricciardo to replace Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri with immediate effect

Daniel Riccardo is to replace Nyck de Vries in the second AlphaTauri seat from the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Riccardo is set to replace the underperforming Dutch driver for the rest of the season.

The Australian made a return to Red Bull Racing as a reserve driver for 2023 after being dropped from the McLaren seat in favour of Oscar Piastri.

De Vries was signed for his first season in F1 off the back of an impressive performance last season at Monza where he stepped in for an ill Alex Albon and scored points for Williams.

However this feat has not been replicated as this season the Dutchman has scored zero points (compared to his team-mate’s two) and has been involved in many collisions which have been estimated to have cost AlphaTauri $895,000 due to the car damage.

In most of the races this season De Vries has been considerably off the pace however many believe he has not been given enough time to show his true pace and adapt to an F1 car.

Ricciardo is an eight-time race winner with Red Bull and McLaren meaning that he will hopefully bring some more pace to the second AlphaTauri seat with his insight also possibly aiding development.

Switching drivers mid-season isn’t unheard of from Red Bull teams as they have been quick to dispose of drivers they deem to be underperforming however I do feel they may have pulled the trigger slightly too early on this one.

Will he be better than De Vries?

Do comment your thoughts below.

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2 responses to “Daniel Ricciardo to replace Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri with immediate effect”

  1. David Sperry aka BigHemi Avatar
    David Sperry aka BigHemi

    Gabriella, I first saw this post on Race Director the same day the news was announced. This truly is breaking news!

    This deal must have been worked out over the Silverstone weekend while Ricciardo was there testing Pirelli tyres. This way, all the interested parties could make a quick decision. Red Bull hired Daniel for exactly this type of eventuality. It leaves De Vries out of the equation by that’s life in the fast moving world of F1.

    My concern is that if the AlphaTauri car continues to underperform and Ricciardo can’t show his talent, then everyone involved in this move looks bad. AlphaTauri needs to bring some upgrades SOON before the rest of season and Ricciardo’s capabilities are wasted.

    I found Silverstone to be a festive weekend, ending in a nice British touch. I dropped a new post on RD.. hope you take a peek.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Gabriella B Avatar
      Gabriella B

      Yeah, I saw Sky Sports announce it (after seeing rumours) and as soon as I saw that I started writing my article.

      Probably, it’s rumoured that he was quicker than Checo at the tyre test so maybe that confirmed the swap.

      I think they might be coming but many think that they could be testing Ricciardo out at AT with a view to promoting him to Red Bull in 2024 with Liam Lawson taking the second AT seat (or promote Yuki).

      Silverstone was great and I’ll definitely look at your post!

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