(Motorsport-Total.com) – Daniel Ricciardo is one of the opulent absentees in the 2023 Formula 1 World Championship. He may be the only star left due to two disappointing seasons (minus a win at Monza) with McLaren, for example. To say the least, it fell by the wayside. But it is not certain that he will be watching his team mates until the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Nyck de Vries’ rookie season hasn’t gone according to plan yet
According to sources reported to ‘Motorsport-Total.com’, Red Bull Motorsport advisor Helmut Marko Nyck de Vries has reportedly issued a very specific ultimatum as the Austrian is disappointed with the 28-year-old’s results so far.
The Dutchman is expected to perform better until the Spanish Grand Prix, which takes place in Barcelona over the weekend of June 2-4, otherwise there is a very good chance he will be replaced. So he will have three races to improve.
Ricciardo with AlphaTauri’s seat adjustment
In any case, Daniel Ricciardo will be on hand to replace De Vries. The team noted that while Yuki Tsunoda often failed to score points he could still end up on the fringes of the top ten, while De Vries could mostly be found towards the back of the field and incidents piled up alongside his No speed.
The Australian, who is now the third Red Bull driver, is also a reserve driver for the AlphaTauri team, which is associated with the world-famous energy drink brand and the large investments it makes in the sport, among other things, for several decades.
Ricciardo could soon be back in Formula 1. While this is not a sure thing, the rumors that have been circulating for a few weeks are by no means far-fetched. Over the past few weeks, the former McLaren driver has been in Faenza to seat the AT04 ready.
De Vries has had big problems in his first five races
At the moment, the only two points AlphaTauri has accumulated this season are the end points score from Yuki Tsunoda. Two tenth places were achieved in Australia and Azerbaijan. By contrast, de Vries’ track record is not very impressive: 14th place in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, 15th place in Australia, eliminations in Azerbaijan and 18th place in Miami.
Looking at more data doesn’t bode well either. In the AlphaTauri team’s indoor duel, Tsunoda is about four-tenths of a lap faster than de Vries in the race, and in qualifying she averages only three-tenths of a lap.
The 28-year-old former Formula E world champion is struggling to get the right feel for the AT04, a car that has been underperforming even after its debut, as confirmed by Franz Tost in Saudi Arabia last March.
How good is the AlphaTauri AT04?
“We expected the car to be more competitive. We struggled in Bahrain, the story looks a bit different here, and I hope we can at least field one car in Q3,” Tost said in Jeddah.
“But we have to work hard to make the car faster, especially in terms of aerodynamics,” the Austrian stressed during the press conference, noting that after many promises he has now lost confidence in his engineers.
“The engineers told me we were making progress, but I don’t trust them anymore, I just want to see the lap times because that’s the only thing that matters.”
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Amid all the rumors surrounding the Nyck de Vries, work is underway at Faenza to improve the AT04’s performance. After initial difficulties, the team began introducing innovations that improved the car.
However, the recovery will not be easy at all, because at the same time the opponents also brought interesting packages that also work. As a result, the AT04’s progress is not as clear as the team would have liked.
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