After a forgettable 10-race Formula 1 debut, Nyck de Vries received a termination from Red Bull’s sister team, AlphaTauri, for failing to impress Helmut Marko, who is in the position of overseeing the driver program. Daniel Ricciardo took de Vries’ position in AlphaTauri, and Helmut Marko felt perfectly justified as according to him, the Dutch driver “did not live up to our expectation“.
The remainder of the F1 2023 season will be driven by Ricciardo, who previously drove as Red Bull’s reserve driver. The Australian driver was expected to perform ahead of teammate Yuki Tsunoda as he headed into his first race weekend at the Hungarian Grand Prix. In typical fashion, Ricciardo narrowly topped the Japanese competitor during qualifying, while in the race, he finished P13 while Tsunoda claimed P15 positions.
🗣️| 🇭🇺Helmut Marko: Nyck DeVries – Daniel Ricciardo swap “worked out perfectly”
— RBR News 🇳🇱🇲🇽 (@redbulletin) July 24, 2023
“Nyck de Vries did not live up to our expectations.”
“A driver change can always have a positive effect. That’s the emotional aspect.”
“It’s also the positive momentum that he [Daniel] brought to… pic.twitter.com/QHbixBo6KH
Despite failing to earn points for the struggling AlphaTauri team, as Nyck de Vries battled to do during his time with the team, Marko is utterly satisfied with his recent and firm choice of switching drivers. A driver change might have a positive impact both emotionally and practically, according to the team’s advisor, who noticed a loss of passion and ambition within the team. As per Helmut Marko, Daniel Ricciardo was exactly what the team needed.
Daniel Ricciardo in AlphaTauri
Daniel Ricciardo believes that he had a chance at a top-10 finish during the Hungarian GP if not for the collision with Zhou Guanyu at the start. Zhou, driving for Alfa Romeo, attempted to recover from a poor start from P5 and unintentionally bumped the back of Ricciardo’s AlphaTauri due to late braking which threw a dampening effect on the latter’s race.
Due to the crash caused by this incident, both Alpine cars had to withdraw from the competition. Ricciardo recovered from this setback to finish in P13, where he had started despite the blow. The AlphaTauri AT04 driven by Ricciardo seemed to have avoided serious damage in the incident, and a post-race inspection showed that just the diffuser had taken some damage, luckily.
#hungarianGP turn 1 lap 1 incident between Ocon – gasly – Zhou – Ricciardopic.twitter.com/TPxJFrkGEK
— Carlos Alcaraz Fanboy 🇪🇸| #VdC Cruise Captain (@Magic14alo) July 23, 2023
Although he believed he could pin his performance on the slight damage, he was also aware that it wouldn’t be an adequate justification. It’s important to note that Ricciardo had signed himself up for driving arguably the slowest car on the grid, with AlphaTauri currently hovering somewhere at the bottom of the Constructors’ standings.
The Aussie views his recent race experience as a useful learning opportunity when running the AT04 despite the fact that he missed out on any points on his return to Formula 1. Looking ahead, the Belgian Grand Prix has been scheduled for the weekend after, meaning Ricciardo doesn’t have to wait as long to enjoy another chance to race for points.