Ricciardo completes seat fit with AlphaTauri

Just a few days after AlphaTauri announced his return to Formula One, Daniel Ricciardo has taken the next step by having completed a seat fit ahead of next weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

After ten races into the 2023 F1 season, AlphaTauri has decided to part ways with Nyck de Vries because the team felt that the former Formula 2 and Formula E champion could not live up to expectations.

The Dutchman made a shock debut in last year’s Italian Grand Prix when he replaced Alexander Albon. While he could score two points with an eye-catching ninth-place finish on his debut in Monza, he has failed to score a single point in his 10 grands prix as a full-time F1 driver.

De Vires finished most recently 17th at Silverstone, a place behind his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, who is currently completing his third season in Formula One.

Speaking to the De Telegraaf, Red Bull consultant Helmut Mark said: “We contracted Nyck because he performed well at Monza last year. We expected him to at least be equal to his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda this year but that was not the case.

“He was always three-tenths of a second slower. We didn’t see any improvements. He’s 28, has a lot of experience, and has also been able to gain a lot of knowledge as a test driver in various F1 cars. You can’t compare him to a young rookie.”

The Faenza-based outfit announced this Thursday that Daniel Ricciardo would replace the outgoing Dutchman, taking over his car from the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Italian team will not be new to the Australian driver as he completed his second season with them following his debut races with the HRT F1 Team in 2011.

Ricciardo spent the 2012 and 2013 season with Toro Rosso before moving on to Red Bull Racing for the following five seasons with this long spell having seen him clinch seven F1 race victories.

In 2019, the Perth-born driver had made the shock switch to Renault before he joined McLaren for the 2021 campaign. However, with Ricciardo unable to display his earlier performance level with the Woking-based outfit, McLaren and the Australian terminated their contract a year early, by mutual agreement.

While he spent the first half of the current F1 season without a race seat and as Red Bull’s reserve driver, Ricciardo is now set to make a shock return to the championship as de Vries’ replacement.

The Australian has already visited the AlphaTauri’s Faenza factory and completed his important seat fit ahead of his return to the sport at next Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

Speaking on his return to Faenza, Ricciardo said “Ciao tutti, what’s going on? “I was greeted with a very nice welcome back Honey Badger because it’s been 10 years since I was what was then Toro Rosso and now, of course is Scuderia AlphaTauri.

“I’m learning my Italian again, I’m getting my accent going and this my first day at Faenza so a very nice warm welcome and happy to be here.”