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BREAKING: Ricciardo to replace de Vries at AlphaTauri with immediate effect
Daniel Ricciardo is set to make a shock return to Formula 1 with immediate effect, replacing Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri, RACER understands.
De Vries was only given his full debut this year after an impressive one-off appearance for Williams at Monza last season, but has struggled in an uncompetitive car. AlphaTauri has scored just two points all season – both coming from 10th-place finishes from Yuki Tsunoda – and multiple sources have confirmed Helmut Marko has acted swiftly to replace de Vries with Ricciardo.
The popular Australian left McLaren a year before the end of his contract after struggling for form alongside Lando Norris, although he did win a race for the team in 2021, and returned to Red Bull this year as a reserve driver. Making his first appearance in the 2023 car today at Silverstone, Ricciardo is carrying out tire testing duties but will return to a race seat at the Hungaroring next weekend.
After making his F1 debut for HRT, Ricciardo raced for AlphaTauri in its previous guise of Toro Rosso from 2012 to 2013 before being promoted to Red Bull, where he won seven races over a five-year spell before departing for Renault in 2019.
ED's note: This story has since been confirmed by Red Bull Racing - click here to learn more.
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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