Early end of F1 dream De Vries
Red Bull is not the first time causing quite a commotion in Formula 1: Dutchman Nyck de Vries has lost his seat at AlphaTauri immediately. Daniel Ricciardo, who returned to Red Bull Racing as the third driver, is his successor.
It was of course already in the air due to disappointing performance, but the timing is still surprising. Nyck de Vries drove his last Grand Prix for the time being last weekend, because he immediately lost his place with Red Bull Racing’s Italian sister team. Daniel Ricciardo, who returned to Red Bull in a reserve role at the end of last year, gets the chance of a lifetime; he can prove in De Vries’ AlphaTauri for the rest of the season that he still has what it takes. Undoubtedly, Red Bull Racing is looking closely at Ricciardo’s performance at that team, now that Max Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Pérez has been disappointing for a while.
“I am very happy to welcome Daniel back to the team,” said AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost. “There is no doubt about his driving skills and he already knows many of us, so his integration will be easy and uncomplicated. The team will also benefit greatly 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 at Scuderia AlphaTauri and I wish him all the best for the future.”
Although the change comes at a surprising time, it is not entirely unexpected. Nyck de Vries had a promising substitution with the Williams team in the GP of Italy last year, but was unable to break any pots at AlphaTauri this year. Moreover, Red Bull is not averse to driver changes during a season, as it proved earlier when it exchanged Max Verstappen and Daniil Kvyat early in the 2016 season. Verstappen then came over from Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri) and Kvyat went back to that team. A similar switch took place in 2019, when the disappointing Pierre Gasly was returned from Red Bull to Toro Rosso after the summer break and Alexander Albon switched in the other direction.
Horner: ‘Ricciardo very competitive’
The fact that Sergio Pérez is currently not performing properly at Red Bull Racing may have accelerated things. After all, this is the perfect way for Red Bull to gauge the level of its old driver Ricciardo, who was considered a great F1 talent for a long time, in case Red Bull would like to replace Pérez. Even if Red Bull were not thinking about that at the moment, this change will put things on edge for the Mexican. The words of Red Bull team boss Christian Horner certainly contribute to this. He is very impressed with what Daniel Ricciardo showed on Tuesday in the RB19 during a tire test at Silverstone: “It’s great to see that Daniel has not lost his form at all and that the progress he has made during his simulator sessions is translates onto the track. His tire test times were extremely competitive. It was a very impressive ride and we are excited to see what the rest of the season brings for Daniel at Scuderia AlphaTauri.”
.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl