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Nyck de Vries has officially been replaced by Daniel Ricciardo at AlphaTauri after a poor start to his rookie season. This comes a few months after Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko talked about a potential replacement for De Vries if he fails to live up to expectations.
Daniel Ricciardo returned to Red Bull at the start of the 2023 season after having his contract with McLaren terminated on mutual grounds. Since then, he has served as their reserve driver, hoping to get a seat for the 2024 F1 season. However, that opportunity came earlier than expected, as AlphaTauri elected to replace Nyck de Vries.
The Dutchman's dismissal after just 10 races in his rookie season was criticised by F1 fans on social media. One Twitter user wrote:
Trending
"That's absolutely ridiculous by Alpha Tauri. Just wow."
Even Pizza chain Domino's reacted to the news:
"Best Tuesday ever."
Here are some other reactions to the news:
Can Daniel Ricciardo handle the AlphaTauri seat better than Nyck de Vries?
One of the major reasons why Nyck de Vries was chosen for the seat at AlphaTauri this season after Pierre Gasly left the team was because of his impressive performance in Monza last year. He served as a replacement for Alex Albon in the race and put the Williams at P8 on his Formula 1 debut.
However, De Vries hasn't been able to score any points for AlphaTauri in the ongoing season. The team only has two points in the constructors' standings, which were won by Yuki Tsunoda.
After the British GP where De Vries finished P17 and Tsunoda finished P16, the Japanese driver was heard complaining about the car's lack of pace.
Daniel Ricciardo will make his first start of the season in Hungary on July 23. There will be high hopes from the Australian driver, but it's important to note that he is likely to be rusty as he hasn't raced in half a year. Ricciardo will have to drive an underwhelming AlphaTauri challenger through midfield to bring them into a points-scoring position.
