A major change has been made within Scuderia AlphaTauri’s driver lineup as Daniel Ricciardo will be returning to the Formula One grid to replace Nyck de Vries with immediate effect for the remainder of the 2023 season.
The news comes as the 34-year-old Ricciardo from Perth, Australia, participated in a Pirelli tyre test at Silverstone Circuit, where he piloted Red Bull Racing’s RB19 car. It also comes amid months of rumors swirling around De Vries being replaced midway into this season amid his ongoing struggles in on-track performance with AlphaTauri.
De Vries, a 28-year-old Dutchman from Uitwellingerga, Netherlands, who won the 2020-21 Formula E World Championship and the 2019 Formula 2 title, made his F1 debut during the 2022 Italian Grand Prix, where he replaced Alex Albon at Williams Racing after Albon was ruled out for the event due to suffering appendicitis. After notching an impressive ninth-place finish and recording points in his F1 debut, he was selected to drive for AlphaTauri for this season.
Since joinng AlphaTauri, however, De Vries has finished no higher than 12th, which occurred during the Monaco Grand Prix in May, and has recorded an average-finishing result of 15.9 during the first 10 Grand Prix scheduled events. He is currently ranked at the bottom of the driver’s standings (20th) with no points amid a struggling season for AlphaTauri, which is also ranked at the bottom of the constructor’s standings (10th) with two points, both of which have been made by the team’s other driver, Yuki Tsunoda.
With De Vries out of the grid, Ricciardo not only makes a sensational return to the grid to compete alongside Tsunoda, but he reunites with AlphaTauri, a team that the veteran campaigned in his maiden two F1 seasons in 2012-13 after serving as the team’s test and reserve competitor during the previous season. Ricciardo would then join Red Bull Racing for the 2014 season, where he would rack up seven victories, 956 points and two third-place results in the driver’s standings (2014 & 2016) through 2018.
Ricciardo then made the surprising move to Renault, rebranded to Alpine, for the 2019 season, where he competed at for two seasons, before joining McLaren F1 Team in 2021. He achieved his latest F1 triumph during the 2021 Italian Grand Prix amid a one-two finish with Lando Norris, but would part ways from McLaren at the conclusion of the 2022 season. Since then, he rejoined Red Bull Racing as the team’s third competitor while participating in PR activities, simulator/factor work and race weekends to support the team’s current two competitors, two-time reigning F1 champion Max Verstappen and veteran Sergio Perez.
Through a total of 233 starts in F1 competition, Ricciardo has achieved eight victories, three poles, 32 podiums, 339 laps led, 1,274 points and an average-finishing result of 9.8.
Following the announcement of his return to F1 competition, Ricciardo stated: “I’m stoked to be back on track with the Red Bull family!”
Ricciardo’s move is one that pleases Franz Tost, Team Principal of AlphaTauri, as the team aims to draw itself out of the bottom of the constructor’s standings. Currently, AlphaTauri, a team that is set to rebrand in 2024, trails Alfa Romeo by seven points with both Williams and Haas only nine points ahead amid a tight mid-season battle.
“I’m very pleased to welcome Daniel back into the team,” Franz Tost, Scuderia AlphaTauri Team Principal, said. “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.”
With Ricciardo back on the F1 grid, he will make his first start of the 2023 season at Hungaroring for the Hungarian Grand Prix, which will occur on July 23.
