Daniel Ricciardo will make a sensational return to front-line Formula 1 racing at the upcoming Hungarian Grand Prix, with the Australian set to replace Nyck de Vries at the AlphaTauri team for the rest of the season.
Daniel Ricciardo will make a sensational return to front-line Formula 1 racing at the upcoming Hungarian Grand Prix, with the Australian set to replace Nyck de Vries at the AlphaTauri team for the rest of the season.
Weren’t people crying that Mick got replaced by Hulk after 2 years of not performing, but suddenly it’s okay if a younger driver is replaced after 10 races by an underperforming veteran?
This is typical of Red Bull. No one should be surprised by this. Hell Kyvatt was ahead of Ricciardo in championship points when they demoted him to Toro Rosso, and then he got replaced again in the middle of the season for Max.
Albon had a short stint at Red Bull, they did Pierre Gasly dirty too.
These are all examples of drivers who showed strong races and have gotten podiums.
Nyck never raced well this year.
To be honest, apart from Kvyat, I don’t feel bad for Gasly or Albon. Albon had 30ish races and was woeful and Gasly argued with Newey of all people. Red Bull got to do what they got to do, however, why Ricciardo and not a RB junior?
Albon and Gasly have demonstrated they are good drivers. My point was even good drivers get the boot at cutthroat Redbull.
I think the contexts are different. De Vries is 28, with three FE world championships, Mick was a proper rookie. After De Vries’ race with Williams, expectations were also a lot higher.
I don’t think firing De Vries this early is fair though, at least 1 full season should be the norm for more experienced rookies. 2 years for recent F2 grads makes sense.
RB and by extension AT also seem to have inconsistent tolerance for driver performance, which makes me think something else is going on behind the scenes.
Because it’s two completely different situations. Yes, Mick has the sympathy bonus because of his name BUT: One was a young driver cutted in the age of 23 after coming directly from F2 after winning it in the second season and showing that he’s evolving. The other one is 28, won F2 in his third year (being older than Mick when he was cutted by Haas), didn’t make it to F1 and didn’t really shine in Formula E while getting lucky to win it 2021 with a randomized qualifying format and a shit show farce in Valencia.
I didn’t see that many crying about Mick, no.
But even if so, hiring Nyck, a relatively old “rookie”, was a bet that his experience from other series would translate well to F1. His performance at Monza was an indication that this could be the case. I was on the Nyck hype train in the beginning of the season too. But clearly he has not performed better than many other rookies, which means that his age and experience are actually working against him. With this in mind it’s not that strange of a decision by AT/RB. By putting Ricciardo in a seat now they can evaluate Yuki, Perez, and Ricciardo better in preparation for next season, to later take a more informed decision about which driver to put in which seat then.