Rough world of F1: De Vries mercilessly ejected, Ricciardo gets a second chance. How does Red Bull boss Christian Horner see it?

Nyck de Vries is retiring from AlphaTauri and will be replaced by Daniel Ricciardo. And that’s since the Hungarian Grand Prix. That’s the news that went around the formula world a few dozen hours ago. Fans are now understandably curious to see what the Australian will do in the second Red Bull team. However, the boss of the Austrian stable, Christian Horner, seems excited about his involvement, especially after testing at Silverstone.

Dutch racer Nyck de Vries has been given the chance to race for Red Bull’s second team this year. However, the 2019 Formula 2 championship winner and 2020/21 Formula E season champion will not be adding any more mileage in Formula 1.

De Vries stunned the world of motorsport royalty last year when, as a substitute at Williams for Alex Albon, he managed to finish ninth in the Italian Grand Prix and score two valuable points for the team.

But this year has been a disaster, both in terms of riding and results. De Vries hasn’t scored a single point in the current season and, along with Logan Sargeant, is the worst rider in the starting field. In addition, he was regularly beaten by teammate Jouki Cunoda.

However, many are understandably surprised that De Vries has only been awarded ten grand prix. Compared to Cunoda, who has been in F1 since the 2021 season, this is incredibly low.

Helmut Marko has kept a protective hand over the Japanese driver for practically two years. And quite objectively speaking – it’s impossible to say that Cunoda has done anything miraculous in AlphaTauri during that time.

But F1 shows how tough a world it really is. Marko, as an advisor to Red Bull, has already recently revealed the reason why De Vries was fired in the first place. And it’s quite simple – tragic results and almost no improvement.

No results, uninteresting driver?

But on the other hand, you can’t do much with one of the slowest monoblocs on the grid at the moment. But looking behind the curtain, we can say that De Vries was not an interesting driver from a marketing point of view, nor were there any big sponsors behind him.

Ricciardo is the showman in that respect and the guy everyone likes. He can draw attention to himself, and from a PR point of view, the Australian driver is a very watchable man indeed.

So Ricciardo will have the opportunity for a sort of career reboot in AlphaTauri. The Australian will return to the Faenza-based team after ten years. He spent the 2012 and 2013 seasons with the team, which was then called Torro Rosso.

Successful tests at Silverstone

The thirty-four-year-old has been Red Bull’s reserve driver until now, with the findings from the simulator runs already reportedly speaking in his favour. Ricciardo then confirmed his results on track when he tested new tyres for Pirelli at Silverstone.

And, as the official F1 website already reports, Ricciardo set times that would catapult him into the front row with Max Verstappen in qualifying. However, it should be noted, the Australian was testing different tyres that don’t need warm-up blankets.

But it was just then that it became clear that De Vries was definitely finished at AlphaTauri and it was Ricciardo who would take his place.

“It was great to see that Daniel didn’t lose his form even during the time (six months – ed.) he spent out of the cockpit,” said Christian Horner in an interview with the official F1 website.

“His times during the tyre test were extremely competitive. It was a very impressive drive and we are curious to see what the rest of the season brings for Daniel in the Scuderia AlphaTauri,” the Red Bull boss added.

Formula 1 has once again given its fans something to look forward to during the second half of the season. Will Ricciardo seize this opportunity or will Cunoda’s performance drive him into the ground and end the Australian’s career for good?

Source: F1, Autosport