AlphaTauri announced Daniel Ricciardo will replace the team’s second driver, Nick De Vries, for the remainder of the 2023 season, starting from the upcoming Hungarian Grand Prix.
The 34-year-old Ricciardo was loaned out to AlphaTauri after showing a strong performance while driving Red Bull’s current RB19 car during a Pirelli tyre test this Tuesday.
The decision was made after rookie De Vries did not perform as well as his teammate Yuki Tsunoda. The 25-year-old Dutch driver had a series of incidents in the first ten races. While Tsunoda achieved two tenth-place finishes in the Australian and Azerbaijan Grands Prix, De Vries’ best result this year was 12th place in Monaco, making him the only driver alongside Logan Sargeant without any points this season.
AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost publicly thanked Nyck De Vries, saying, “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.” Tost also extended a warm welcome to Ricciardo, stating, “I’m very pleased to welcome Daniel back into the team.”
Daniel is back! 👊@danielricciardo, on loan from @redbullracing, will be racing for us for the remainder of the #F1 season, starting from the Hungarian GP.
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— Scuderia AlphaTauri (@AlphaTauriF1) July 11, 2023
Meanwhile, Ricciardo’s first race back will take place at the venue where he scored his second F1 victory, the Hungarian Grand Prix.
