The week off Formula 1 opened with a big change at AlphaTauri: outside De Vries, inside Daniel Ricciardo. An unexpected change, but perhaps not too much, considering the Dutchman's disappointing performances. In fact, De Vries, together with Logan Sargeant, he was the only driver who had not yet collected points this year.
Ten races then the stop: Nyck De Vries' season ends
De Vries has always been at the center of great debate since the first races of the season, with Helmut Marko having already warned the Formula E world champion of the his position very much at risk. What was surprising, if desired, was the timing: the most concrete hypothesis in recent weeks concerned the possibility of seeing Ricciardo replace De Vries after the Belgian Grand Prix – therefore during the summer break. However, the disappointing performance at Silverstone did not make Marko hesitate and, as usual, he wasted no time with the substitution.
Marko attacks De Vries: "He lapped 3 tenths below Tsunoda"
Like it or not, that's how it works in Red Bull. Helmut himself explains the main reason behind this change Marko"We had to do something: why wait? What difference do two more races make if you don't see any improvements anyway? Nyck is a good guy, but the speed wasn't there. We signed Nyck because he performed very well in Monza last year and we expected him to be at least as good as his teammate this year, but that wasn't the case. In reality, he was always three tenths slower. We haven't seen any improvement."
“Ricciardo has shown he is fast”
Another important issue concerns the choice itself: why rely on Ricciardo and not on the young Lawson? Also on this topic, Marko has no doubts"His lap times – during Pirelli testing (ed) – were competitive on three different sets of tyres. If Ricciardo hadn't had the necessary speed, we would have considered someone else. But AlphaTauri is not in a good position. They are last in the Constructors' standings, so we have to do something to improve the situation. This often happens after a driver change: Ricciardo will bring new energy to the team."
STATEMENT SOURCE: FormulaPassion
