Nyck de Vries has lost his AlphaTauri seat effective immediately. Following weeks of growing rumors over his future following a disastrous season debut, Formula 1 stated that de Vries will not be competing for AlphaTauri at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Amidst the news of being sacked, Nyck de Vries's sister Seychelle shows support to her brother.
Helmut Marko had urged de Vries to step up his game in recent weeks, but the 2019 Formula 2 champion has only managed to place 12th once during the Monaco Grand Prix.
Marko finally pulled the trigger and chose to remove the former Mercedes reserve driver from his driving responsibilities after growing irritated with de Vries' failure to improve the performance.
Nyck de Vries to be replaced by former Red Bull Driver
Daniel Ricciardo will replace Nyck de Vries on the Formula 1 grid from the Hungarian Grand Prix till the rest of the season. De Vries was stripped of his driving responsibilities with immediate effect on Tuesday, July 11, two days after finishing 17th in the British Grand Prix.
In 2012 and 2013, Ricciardo raced for AlphaTauri when it was still known as Toro Rosso. After Mark Webber retired from Grand Prix racing in 2014, Ricciardo was promoted to the senior Red Bull team.
With a best finish of 12th in the Monaco Grand Prix, he has failed to match his AlphaTauri teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, with driver boss Helmut Marko openly urging him to improve performance.
However, after finishing 17th in the British Grand Prix, Marko has decided to make a change, with Ricciardo slated to replace de Vries' spot "on loan from Red Bull" beginning with the Hungarian weekend on July 21st-23rd.
De Vries only raced 10 races in his debut season in Formula 1. The Dutchman has not stated what he will be doing in terms of his future. This is not the first time a Red Bull team has made a mid-season switch with their drivers. Back in 2019, Pierre Gasly, who was driving for Red Bull racing was replaced by Alexander Albon mid-season since he failed to show improvements in his racing performance.