The last few months at AlphaTauri have seen the team in a continuous phase of renewal, both managerially, with the arrival of Peter Bayer and Laurent Mekies, and technically, which coincided with the departure of aerodynamics manager Dickon Balmforth.
However, an important announcement came on Tuesday, namely the change in its driver line-up between Nyck De Vries, who arrived in the Faenza team at the beginning of the year to replace Pierre Gasly, and Daniel Ricciardo.
In fact, starting from the next Hungarian Grand Prix, the Australian will replace his Dutch colleague on the second AT04, alongside Yuki Tsunoda for the rest of the season.
Nyck de Vries, AlphaTauri AT04
Photo by: Erik Junius
Helmut Marko had never made a secret that the former Formula E world champion’s performance was under close observation, especially after a start to the world championship that fell short of their expectations. Nyck has often struggled to find the right feeling with the AT04, paying above all for the instability of a car that is difficult to decipher.
De Vries’ adventure in AlphaTauri thus lasted only ten Grands Prix, with a twelfth place obtained in Monte Carlo as the best result. The lack of progress shown by the Dutch weighed on the final decision: “We hired Nyck because last year he performed very well at Monza”, he said. Marko told De Telegraaf underlining how impressed he was after his strong performance in the 2022 Italian Grand Prix, when he replaced Alex Albon in the Williams at the last second to score two points.
The expectation was that De Vries could reach at least the same levels as Tsunoda, even though the latter was now in his third year in the top open-wheel category. “We expected him to be at least as good as his teammate Yuki Tsunoda this year, but that wasn’t the case. In fact, he’s always been three-tenths of a second slower than Yuki. We haven’t seen any improvement.”
The accident that forced De Vries to retire in Azerbaijan.
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
“He is 28 years old, has a lot of experience and has also been able to acquire a lot of knowledge as a test driver of various Formula 1 cars. You cannot compare him to a young rookie, in my opinion. At the end of April, in Baku, he started the weekend well and I thought that he could have done better, but then he crashed. Unfortunately he didn’t do a super lap which really amazed us”.
At the moment, AlphaTauri is at the bottom of the standings, behind direct rivals such as Williams, Haas and Alfa Romeo. The choice of the Faenza team therefore fell on a driver who, beyond the objective limits of the car, can exploit his experience to seize opportunities by collecting those few points which, however, could make the difference in the constructors’ championship.
“We had to do something. Why wait, and what does it matter two more races if you don’t see improvements? Nyck is a good guy, but the speed wasn’t there.”
“It will be difficult, I think [rivederlo in Formula 1]. But, at the same time, I think he expected it. I think he can build a good career in endurance racing,” added Marko.
Although in reality the Australian had known for some time of the possibility of returning to AlphaTauri given De Vries’ precarious situation, the decision to focus on Ricciardo came following the Pirelli test carried out on the very day of the announcement.
Nyck de Vries with Helmut Marko during the Miami weekend
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
“Ricciardo’s lap times were competitive during the tire development test, on three different sets of tyres. If Ricciardo didn’t have the necessary speed, we would have had to consider something else. But the AlphaTauri is not in a good position at the moment and are bottom of the constructors’ championship, so we had to do something to change things. This often happens after a driver change and Ricciardo brings new energy to the team.”
The arrival of the Perth driver in the Faenza team was interpreted by many as a warning also for Sergio Perez, who is currently going through a complex period in terms of results. Marko has denied for the moment, also because a change with the Mexican would be more complex to manage at the sponsor level, but the Red Bull consultant has often gotten used to last-minute surprises.
“Checo is second in the championship, so it wouldn’t make any sense to get rid of him now. His race at Silverstone was also good, but he needs to improve in qualifying.”
“As for Ricciardo, we first need to see how he performs compared to Tsunoda. I think Yuki is underestimated by many people. The AlphaTauri is not the easiest car to drive, but Yuki has shown that good results can be achieved.”
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