The great return of Daniel Ricciardo in Formula 1, it is signed. The Australian driver, current third driver of the Red Bull team, will replace from the next Grand Prix in Hungary and for the rest of the season the Dutchman Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri, Red Bull’s sister team announced on Tuesday.
Former driver at Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri) in 2012 and 2013, then at Red Bull between 2014 and 2018, Ricciardo, 34, “already knows many of us, his integration will therefore be easy”, declared the director of ‘AlphaTauri Franz Tost, quoted in a statement. “The team will also benefit from his experience, as he has won eight Formula 1 Grand Prix,” added the Austrian, while Nyck de Vries has failed to score a single point this season unlike his Japanese teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
Ousted from McLaren last season
Having become a McLaren driver in 2021, he finished last season in a modest 11th place in the championship, tied with the four-time German world champion Sebastian Vettel, before being replaced in the English team by his compatriot Oscar Piastri.
After a contested GP for Williams in 2022, de Vries, 28, had joined the ranks of the Italian team this year for what was to be his very first full season in the elite of motorsport. Currently last in the championship after ten GPs, he will give up his seat at the next round, the weekend of July 23 on the Hungaroring track in Hungary.