Following the announcement of his sacking, little has been heard from Nyck de Vries, who has been replaced by Red Bull development driver Daniel Ricciardo for the remainder of the season.
The rookie driver has astonishingly been sacked by AlphaTauri and Red Bull after just 10 races, with Ricciardo set to race alongside Yuki Tsunoda from the Hungarian Grand Prix onwards.
De Vries’ short stay in F1 has been turbulent, as he failed to score a single point.
The Dutch driver also made several mistakes in the first half of the season; however, what else should be expected from a rookie?
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De Vries has ultimately not met the team’s expectations, with Red Bull advisor Dr. Helmut Marko having hoped that he’d instantly match Tsunoda.
Being a rookie at 28 years old seemingly led to people expecting too much from him, something which has led to an embarrassing exit.
Red Bull, AlphaTauri, and Formula 1 were all delighted to announce that Ricciardo would be returning to the grid, with little having been said in recognition of De Vries’ efforts.
AlphaTauri did briefly thank the Dutch driver for his “valuable contribution” and wished him good luck “for the future”.
“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,” AlphaTauri boss Franz Tost said following the announcement of his sacking.
De Vries’ future has been in doubt for a while now, especially after a podcast appearance made by Marko.
Marko staggeringly revealed that Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was “right” in believing that AlphaTauri shouldn’t have signed De Vries, with it having been the last time the two men disagreed over a driver signing.
“Not often, but sometimes we do,” Marko told the Inside Line podcast, when asked if himself and Horner ever disagree over a driver signing.
“The last one… I would say De Vries. Basically, it’s AlphaTauri, but we’re a big family and we get opinions. [Horner] was not a fan of De Vries. I would say at the moment it looks like he’s right.”
The pressure is now very much on Ricciardo to perform in the worst car on the grid, should he wish to complete his “fairy-tale”.
Ricciardo is believed to be keen on racing for Red Bull again, something which could be on the cards if he does well at the sister team.
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With the Aussie having last raced for the Faenza side in 2013, Tost was “very pleased” to welcome the fan favourite back.
“I’m very pleased to welcome Daniel back into the team,” Tost said.
“There’s no doubt about his driving skills, and he already knows many of us, so his integration will be easy and straightforward. The team will also profit a lot from his experience, as he is an eight-time Formula One Grand Prix winner.”