Australian racer Daniel Ricciardo will be back on the Formula One grid for the remainder of the 2023 season as AlphaTauri named him as the replacement for Nyck de Vries in a shock move.
Ricciardo was left without a seat in F1 this season after parting ways with McLaren last year. He was brought back on board by Red Bull Racing as their reserve driver.
Ricciardo was seen in action in the Red Bull RB19 at Silverstone on Tuesday in a Pirelli tyre test.
"I’m very pleased to welcome Daniel back into the team,” commented Franz Tost, AlphaTauri Team Principal.
“There’s no doubt about his driving skills, and he already knows many of us, so his integration will be easy and straight forward. The team will also profit a lot from his experience, as he is an eight-time Formula 1 Grand Prix winner."
Dutch driver De Vries – who starred in a one-off drive for Williams at Monza last year, claiming ninth position – has endured a difficult first season of full-time F1 racing and is yet to score, with AlphaTauri rooted to the bottom of the constructors’ standings.
That’s led to him being replaced after 10 Grands Prix, with eight-time race winner Ricciardo who will be returning to Faenza-based team with whom he spent two seasons in 2012 and 2013 in their Toro Rosso guise, before his promotion to Red Bull for 2014.
Ricciardo went on to net seven victories for Red Bull, before joining Renault for two seasons from 2019, then moving onto McLaren for 2021.
Ricciardo will be back on the grid at the Hungarian Grand Prix on the July 21-23 weekend.
