Daniel Ricciardo Back in F1 Driver’s Seat with AlphaTauri

It’s been a tough season for AlphaTauri. Rookie pilot Nyck de Vries sits at the bottom of the drivers standings with zero points and teammate Yuki Tsunoda sits in 17^th with two points. Management felt a change was necessary to save what they could of the 2023 campaign. As such veteran Daniel Ricciardo, who was a reserve driver for Red Bull, will immediately replace de Vries.

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Daniel Ricciardo Replaces Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri

There are no two ways about it. AlphaTauri are not exactly heavy hitters within the Formula 1 circuit. Both drivers combined have only collected two points on the season, putting them at the bottom of the Constructors table. In fact, along with Alpha Romeo, they are one of only two teams with less than 10 points through 11 events.

Nyck de Vries was a rookie driver signed during the offseason, but evidently the performances have not been up to par. AlphaTauri is looking to salvage something of their season by substituting the first-year pilot with veteran Ricciardo, who has won eight Grand Prix races in his career.

It should be noted that there is a close link between AlphaTauri and Red Bull, the latter with whom the Australian Ricciardo had been a reserve this year. Red Bull is in fact the parent company of AlphaTauri. Viewed from a different angle, it a case could be made that having Ricciardo race for Alpha the rest of the season gives him a chance at stepping in with the actual Red Bull team should they be so inclined to thank Sergio Perez for his services. Perez has struggled mightily this season and sits a whopping 99 points behind leader Max Verstappen.

Daniel Ricciardo’s had spent the previous two seasons with McLaren and put in mid-table results, finishing eighth in 2021 and 11^th in 2022.

The next round is the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 23.