Daniel Ricciardo will make a sensational return to the Formula 1 front row at the upcoming Hungarian Grand Prix, with the Australian set to replace Nyck de Vries at Team AlphaTauri for the rest of the season.
Ricciardo was in action at Silverstone today, driving Red Bull’s current RB19 car in a Pirelli tire test.
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But it has now been announced that Ricciardo, currently Red Bull’s third driver, will take Hungary’s De Vries’ place at AlphaTauri.
“I’m delighted to be back on track with the Red Bull family!” said Ricciardo of his new post, after impressing in his Silverstone test.
“I am very happy to welcome Daniel back to the team,” commented AlphaTauri Team Principal Franz Tost. “There is no doubt about his driving skills, and he already knows a lot of us, so his integration will be easy and straightforward. The team will also benefit greatly from his experience as he is an eight-time Grand Prix winner of Formula 1”.
Dutch driver De Vries, who starred in a one-off for Williams at Monza last year and finished ninth, has endured a difficult first season of full-time F1 racing and is yet to score, with AlphaTauri rooted at the bottom of the competition. classification of builders.
This has seen him replaced after 10 Grands Prix, with eight-time race winner Ricciardo, who lost his push with McLaren at the end of 2022 after two difficult seasons with the team, set to rejoin the Faenza team with whom he spent two seasons in 2012 and 2013 in his Toro Rosso guise, before his promotion to Red Bull in 2014.
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Ricciardo took seven wins for Red Bull, before joining Renault for two seasons from 2019 and then moving to McLaren for 2021.
Ricciardo has been open in recent interviews about his desire to return to a full-time F1 seat, with the Australian recently telling ESPN: “Right now, I want to get back on the grid next year. I feel like , there is certainly some pending matter. I am aware and ready.”
Ricciardo’s first race, meanwhile, will come at the venue where he took the second of his F1 victories at the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix.
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