Daniel Ricciardo will race for AlphaTauri for the rest of this season, Red Bull has confirmed.
The Aussie has been a reserve driver for the team this year after losing his McLaren seat. However, he will make a return to racing earlier than expected after Red Bull agreed to loan him to their sister team.
It comes after Ricciardo drove a Formula 1 car for the first time since the end of last season in a tyre test at Silverstone on Tuesday. A Red Bull spokeperson told Mirror Sport the team felt he had put in "a strong performance".
As a result, AlphaTauri have axed Nyck de Vries and Ricciardo will step in for the rest of the year. His first race for the team since 2013, when it was branded as Toro Rosso, will be at the Hungarian Grand Prix later this month.
"I am stoked to be back on track with the Red Bull family!" said Ricciardo. And Red Bull team principal Christian Horner added: "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."
AlphaTauri chief Franz Tost said: "I'm very pleased to welcome Daniel back into the team. There's no doubt about his driving skill, and he already knows many of us, so his integration will be easy and straight-forward. The team will also profit a lot from his experience, as he is an eight-time Formula 1 Grand Prix winner."
Regarding the departing De Vries, he added: "I would like to thank Nyck for his valuable contribution during his time with Scuderia AlphaTauri, and I wish him all the best for the future."
De Vries was given only 10 races with AlphaTauri before this decision to replace him. It comes just two Grand Prix weekends before the F1 summer shutdown – races in Hungary and Belgium.
Including those, Ricciardo will have 12 races to provide evidence either to Red Bull or to other teams on the grid that he is still worthy of an F1 seat despite his struggles with McLaren. He may even be eyeing a fairytale return to the top team, amid Sergio Perez's struggles.
The Mexican has not qualified in the top 10 of a race since the Miami Grand Prix in early May and is 99 points adrift of Max Verstappen after those first 10 races of 2023. Meanwhile, Ricciardo previously suggested he would not take an AlphaTauri seat unless he felt he had a chance of using it as a springboard to race again for Red Bull one day.
