Oy Vey! Another Red Bull driver bites the dust. You might know by now that AlphaTauri has gotten rid of rookie Nyck de Vries and replaced him with Daniel Ricciardo. While the entire Australian F1 fanbase rejoices, de Vries finds himself losing the only opportunity he had in F1. For fans, this decision came out of nowhere and Christian Horner was slammed for the same. But now that Ricciardo has gotten a seat with AlphaTauri, he’s been issued a stern warning by a famous F1 Journalist.

One thing to keep in mind is that though he is a rookie in F1, de Vries is 28 years old. So shouldn’t his performances have been better? Even if they were not, should Red Bull have given the Dutch racer some more time for settling into AlphaTauri? In the latest episode of the Sky Sports F1 Podcast, Matt Baker, Ted Kravitz, and Bernie Collins were discussing the same topic. While Kravitz agreed that de Vries’ performances have been underwhelming, he also pointed out that Ricciardo needs to be wary of suffering the same fate.

Kravitz said, “It’s not exactly motivating, is it? That’s what you get when you race for Christian Horner and Helmut Marko, I suppose. But in the end, he wasn’t quick enough. And if you’re not quick enough and you don’t score points then you don’t deserve to stay. But I like Nyck, I respect him. I think he’s a good driver. I think it was probably the only opportunity he had.”

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The decision to axe de Vries and let Ricciardo jump back into Red Bull’s sister team concern also comes as a surprise. Because no one would’ve thought that Horner would allow the Australian back into his team after he left in 2018. But it’s the complete opposite. Horner seems to love having Ricciardo in one of his cars once again.

Christian Horner Showers Praise on Still In-Form Daniel Ricciardo

Since leaving McLaren at the end of 2022, Ricciardo had not been in an F1 car. All he worked on was the simulator at Red Bull. But an 8-time Grand Prix winner doesn’t forget his racetrack so easily. So, when RB gave him a chance to test the RB19 at Silverstone, he came out with flying colors. And based on that performance, he landed the AlphaTauri seat, said Christian Horner.

Horner said, as quoted by Mirror, “It is great to see Daniel hasn’t lost any form while away from racing and that the strides he has been making in his SIM sessions translate on track. His times during the tyre test were extremely competitive. It was a very impressive drive and we are excited to see what the rest of the season brings for Daniel on loan at Scuderia AlphaTauri.”

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While Ricciardo gets another well-deserved chance to compete in F1, a rookie loses his seat. Will the Honey Badger be able to justify Horner’s decision?