Rumors that Daniel Ricciardo would join Scuderia AlphaTauri have been circulating recently, but now they are official: Nyck de Vries will soon be replaced in the racing team from Faenza. AlphaTauri has confirmed this. The Dutchman will no longer play for the team. Therefore, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone is De Vries’ final race for now. Ricciardo will be around Hungarian Grand Prix sit behind the wheel of car AT04.

De Vries is currently last in the championship. He finished 14th twice in his season opener in the Middle East before failing to finish in Australia and Azerbaijan due to accidents. In Miami he finished eighteenth, but on the streets of Monaco he survived a downpour to achieve his best finish of the season. The 28-year-old player from Uitwellingerga then finished twelfth. Only in Spain did he then finish in the top fifteen. In Canada he had to settle for P18 after an accident with Kevin Magnussen, and in Austria and Great Britain he crossed the line in seventeenth. As a result of Williams’ eleventh-place finish at Silverstone, De Vries is useless at the bottom of the standings.

Performance is evaluated

Red Bull chief adviser Helmut Marko indicated earlier this month that it was no secret that De Vries had not lived up to expectations: “It’s a tough sport and we also have to look to the future. We evaluate his performance and if necessary Then we will make a decision.” The decision has now been taken by AlphaTauri, as the team has confirmed that the Formula 1 adventure will end early for De Vries. Max Verstappen is once again the only Dutch driver in the premier class of motorsport.

While earlier in the season, it was speculated that Liam Lawson – a Red Bull junior who won races in Formula 2, was vice-champion in the DTM and now a title challenger in Japanese Super Formula – was a prime candidate to replace De Vries. change, AlphaTauri still chose Ricciardo. The Australian racer raced for the Italian team early in his career, but later under the name Scuderia Toro Rosso. After half a season as a substitute for Hispania Racing Team in 2011, Ricciardo spent two years full time for Toro Rosso. He was eighteenth in the final standings in 2012 and a year later he was fourteenth in the championship.

Ricciardo has seven wins at Red Bull

For 2014, Ricciardo was promoted to Red Bull Racing. He won seven Grands Prix for the energy drink manufacturer before switching to Renault, which he traded to McLaren after two seasons. With the team from Woking he won the Italian Grand Prix in 2021, but his form soon started to disappoint. McLaren signed Oscar Piastri for 2023, leaving Ricciardo without a seat.

Back to Red Bull

That Honey badger was then offered the role of reserve driver by Red Bull last winter and he grabbed it with both hands. That now gives him the chance to take over the AlphaTauri De Vries seat from the upcoming race at the Hungaroring. Red Bull Racing officially lends Ricciardo to AlphaTauri. Therefore, Ricciardo will also remain as Red Bull’s reserve driver. The race at the circuit near Budapest is scheduled for Sunday 23 July. De Vries’ future plans are still unknown.