‘Stoked’ Daniel Ricciardo replaces Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri
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Former McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo (left) is replacing rookie Nyck de Vries, who has endured a tough first season.
PHOTOS: AFP
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PARIS – Australian Daniel Ricciardo will return to a Formula One race seat with AlphaTauri from Hungary next week after replacing Nyck de Vries for the rest of the season, the Red Bull-owned team said on Tuesday.
The 34-year-old drove for the team in 2012 and 2013 when they were known as Toro Rosso and then graduated to Red Bull from 2014 to 2018, winning seven races.
He was at Renault for two seasons and then left McLaren in 2022 (he won once in 2021) after being replaced by compatriot Oscar Piastri and was due to spend this season on the sidelines as a Red Bull reserve, while deciding on his future.
“I am stoked to be back on track with the Red Bull family,” said the veteran driver.
De Vries, 28, has had a difficult season and his departure comes as no surprise, with the Dutch driver failing to score a point. His best finish was 12th in Monaco.
“I’m very pleased to welcome Daniel back into the team,” AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost said.
“There’s no doubt about his driving skills, and he already knows many of us, so his integration will be easy and straightforward. The team will also profit a lot from his experience.”
De Vries had a dream debut in F1 in 2022 when he scored points for Williams with a ninth-place finish in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza as a substitute for the unwell Alex Albon.
The 2021 Formula E champion has failed to live up to expectations, however. The other AlphaTauri driver, Japan’s Yuki Tsunoda has picked up two points, leaving the team last in the constructor standings after Williams moved off the bottom and up to seventh with strong recent results.
Ricciardo has done plenty of simulator work and was tyre testing with Pirelli at Silverstone on Tuesday, his first return to the cockpit since leaving McLaren.
“It is great to see Daniel hasn’t lost any form while away from racing and that the strides he has been making in Sim (simulator) sessions translate on track,” said Red Bull principal Christian Horner. “His times during the tyre test were extremely competitive.”
Horner said in June that the veteran had got his “mojo” back.
Ricciardo also said it would be a “fairy-tale ending” to his career to race for Red Bull again.
Such a homecoming is not out of the question given the recent struggles of Sergio Perez, Red Bull’s No. 2 driver after two-time world champion Max Verstappen.
The Mexican, under contract until 2024, has failed to make the third qualifying session for five races in succession and has repeatedly finished down the grid despite the car’s undoubted pace.
He is second in the driver’s standings but trails Verstappen by 99 points and is only 19 points in front of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in third. REUTERS, AFP
