First casualty of the F1 grid set to be confirmed, 232-race driver about to replace him

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AlphaTauri are set to replace Dutch rookie Nyck de Vries with Daniel Ricciardo ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

That’s according to reputable Dutch source De Telegraaf who provides more details on the switch.

There was so much hope going into this season for AlphaTauri.

Yuki Tsunoda was set to start his third season in Formula 1 and build on his experience with Red Bull’s junior team.

With Pierre Gasly moving to Alpine, AlphaTauri turned to Nyck de Vries to replace him.

The 28-year-old starred for Williams last season when he replaced Nicholas Latifi for one race, scoring two points at Monza.

However, in a struggling car De Vries has failed to impress in his first full Formula 1 season.

Now, AlphaTauri are set to replace de Vries with Daniel Ricciardo before the summer break.

The Australian already has 232 F1 races under his belt and returned to the Red Bull set-up after losing his seat at McLaren.

He’s now got the opportunity to prove to the British-based team they made a mistake by getting rid of him.

AlphaTauri replace De Vries with Ricciardo

The report from De Telegraaf suggests that De Vries has driven his last race for AlphaTauri.

Daniel Ricciardo is set to be his replacement after a six-month absence from the grid.

He previously drove for AlphaTauri – known as Toro Rosso at the time – back in 2012 and 2013.

Ricciardo will test for Red Bull this week before taking up a seat in the season team’s car.

De Vries is currently bottom of the Drivers’ Standings having failed to score a point all season.

Only Williams driver Logan Sargeant can match that feat, although his best finish of 11^th at last weekend’s British Grand Prix means he currently sits 19^th.

The pressure has been growing on De Vries in recent weeks and finishing 17^th and last on Sunday certainly didn’t help his cause.

Ricciardo will have his work cut out trying to get any sort of performance out of De Vries’s AlphaTauri car.

Even Tsunoda, who started the season so well, has struggled in recent weeks.