Daniel Ricciardo is set to make a shock return to Formula 1 with immediate effect, replacing Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri, RACER understands.
De Vries was only given his full debut this year after an impressive one-off appearance for Williams at Monza last season, but has struggled in an uncompetitive car. AlphaTauri has scored just two points all season – both coming from 10th-place finishes from Yuki Tsunoda – and multiple sources have confirmed Helmut Marko has acted swiftly to replace de Vries with Ricciardo.
The popular Australian left McLaren a year before the end of his contract after struggling for form alongside Lando Norris, although he did win a race for the team in 2021, and returned to Red Bull this year as a reserve driver. Making his first appearance in the 2023 car today at Silverstone, Ricciardo is carrying out tire testing duties but will return to a race seat at the Hungaroring next weekend.
After making his F1 debut for HRT, Ricciardo raced for AlphaTauri in its previous guise of Toro Rosso from 2012 to 2013 before being promoted to Red Bull, where he won seven races over a five-year spell before departing for Renault in 2019.
ED’s note: This story has since been confirmed by Red Bull Racing – click here to learn more.