De Vries out, Ricciardo in at AlphaTauri!
Nyck de Vries has relinquished his seat at AlphaTauri to Daniel Ricciardo, with the Aussie making his debut with the Red Bull sister outfit next week in Hungary Red Bull has confirmed.
The writing was on the wall for de Vries following the Dutchman’s troubled F1 debut with AlphaTauri. Lacklustre performances - including in last weekend's British Grand Prix - and an inability to race on a par with his teammate Yuki Tsunoda have obviously eroded the patience of Red Bull motorsport boss Helmut Marko.
Although AlphaTauri team boss Franz Tost suggested last month that de Vries would be given time to get his act together, and that Ricciardo would not be considered as a potential replacement, Red Bull have now made the call and decided to draft in the eight-time Grand Prix winner.
Ricciardo was in action with Red Bull on Tuesday at Silverstone, having been assigned to the Milton Keynes-bsed outfit tyre test with Pirelli.
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"Scuderia AlphaTauri announces that Daniel Ricciardo will be joining the team on loan from Red Bull Racing for the remainder of the Formula 1 season, starting from the upcoming Hungarian Grand Prix," the team said in a statement.
©AlphaTauri
"I’m very pleased to welcome Daniel back into the team," added team boss Franz Tost. "There’s no doubt about his driving skills, and he already knows many of us, so his integration will be easy and straight forward. The team will also profit a lot from his experience, as he is an eight-time Formula 1 grand prix winner.
"I would like to thank Nyck for his valuable contribution during his time with Scuderia AlphaTauri and I wish him all the best for the future.”
Commenting on Ricciardo's return to the track on Tuesday with Red Bull, team boss Christian Horner noted that the Aussie had not lost his form.
"It is great to see Daniel hasn’t lost any form while away from racing and that the strides he has been making in his sim sessions translate on track," commented Horner.
"His times during the tyre test were extremely competitive. It was a very impressive drive and we are excited to see what the rest of the season brings for Daniel on loan at Scuderia AlphaTauri."
Commenting on his new role at Scuderia AlphaTauri, Ricciardo said: "I am stoked to be back on track with the Red Bull family!"
Ricciardo who made his F1 debut with HRT in 2011, learned his trade during two seasons with AlphaTauri under its Toro Rosso guise in 2012 and 2013 before he was promoted to Red Bull Racing, and winning his first race with the team in Canada in 2014.
Next week in Hungary, Ricciardo's first mission will be to outpace Tsunoda. Anything beyond that would be a bonus given the mediocre performance this season of AlphaTauri's AT04 which, all things considered, is certainly not the best piece of equipment for Ricciardo to eradicate the demons that undermined his career at McLaren.
Nevertheless, it's a reset for the 34-year-old who must also focus on the bigger picture and on performing to the best of his ability with the aim of securing an F1 drive for 2024.
And with Sergio Perez's future in jeopardy if the Mexican fails to turn around his season, Ricciardo will have the Mexican's seat in his line of sight for next season.
Overall, Ricciardo simply has nothing to lose and everything to gain.
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