AlphaTauri Drops Nyck De Vries Replaces Him With Daniel Ricciardo, Thus Making One Of My Pre-Season Predictions Very, Very Wrong

The Nyck de Vries era at AlphaTauri has come to an end, and fan-favorite, shoey-drinking Aussie Daniel Ricciardo is hopping back on the Grand Prix grid.

And with this news comes confirmation that one of my preseason predictions is wrong. Very wrong.

How much more wrong could it be? The answer is none; none more wrong.

There had been rumors for quite some time that de Vries was on thin ice. And honestly, justifiably so. At 28 years old and with Formula 2 and Formula E championships on his CV, plus a stellar one-off appearance for Williams in 2022, the expectations for the Dutchmen were considerably higher than they were for most "rookies."

Recently, it was publically acknowledged that team brass like Helmut Marko and Red Bull team principal Christian Horner were not pleased with de Vries' performance.

On Tuesday reports ramped up that de Vries was on his way out and Red Bull reserve driver Ricciardo was headed to AlphaTauri. Just hours later these reports were confirmed.

Danny Ric is back. That means ESPN will need to find someone else to do those alternate broadcasts for them...

De Vries' Job Was In Jeopardy For Quite Some Time

The sword of Damocles has been hanging over de Vries practically all season. His performance at the Italian Grand Prix in 2022 made him a hot commodity on the driver market. There's no doubt de Vries is a talented driver, but we also know that the Williams he drove that day was probably better suited to Monza's low-downforce nature than it was for any other circuit on the calendar.

This season he couldn't get a handle on AlphaTauri's AT04 which has proven to be unwieldy and has made itself at home at the back of the grid.

However, a lousy car is only a good excuse if your teammate is having the same struggles, and that wasn't true of de Vries' teammate Yuki Tsunoda. The third-year driver out of Japan has had to battle a bad car too but routinely threw down better results on Saturdays and Sundays than de Vries.

Then came Hellmut Marko straight-up saying the team wasn't pleased with his performance and that Christian Horner was never big on him, and you've got a recipe for an early exit.

That's a real shame, but I'd expect to see de Vries land in another series for next season. Formula E would be the top choice, given he has already had success there. IndyCar could be another option, or he could dive into sportscar racing.

Yuki Tsunoda routinely outperformed his AlphaTauri teammate Nyck de Vries. (Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images)

With Apologies To Yuki Tsunoda: One Of My Bold Pre-Season Predictions Is Officially Very, Very Wrong

It takes a big man to admit he's wrong, and I was very wrong.

At the beginning of this season, I made a bold prediction for every team on the Formula 1 grid. After just 10 races, my AlphaTauri prediction has proved to be completely wide of the mark.

That prediction?: AlphaTauri: "De Vries Will Beat Tsunoda Head To Head"

"I’m a big Yuki fan, but I’m not convinced he’ll be able to beat de Vries head-to-head," I wrote back in March. "The Dutchmen is a rookie in name only, and I expect him to hit the ground running as fast as his AT04 will take him. That may not be all that fast, but I expect to see de Vries finish ahead of Tsunoda in the Drivers’ Championship."

Before losing his seat at AlphaTauri, De Vries had 0 points. Unless something truly bizarre happens he won't be getting any retroactively either. Yuki has 2 points, which means he definitively won the head-to-head battle, and he did it before the summer break and chased his teammate out of the series.

Yeah... now that prediction really sounds like it was written by a blithering dope, doesn't it?

In some sense it was, but I've got 9 more predictions to lean on. A 90% success rate is still good. I would've killed for that in college.

I think I grossly overestimated de Vries' potential and slightly underestimated Yuki's. Tsunoda is a solid F1 driver, but I expected de Vries to be great.

For now, we have to label Nyck de Vries as not a great Formula 1 driver.

Could de Vries mount an F1 comeback? I don't foresee that happening, but you never know.

Plus we show how my Nyck de Vries predictions tend to pan out...

Could Daniel Ricciardo help AlphaTauri turn their fortunes around? (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Is Ricciardo The Answer At AlphaTauri?

So, can Daniel Ricciardo turn the ship around at AlphaTauri in their final season before swapping to a new name?

Not completely, but he may help.

Ricciardo's tenure at McLaren turned out to be a major bust. While he won a Grand Prix, the cars the team brought to the track week-to-week were fairly inconsistent. Worse yet, was that the car was difficult for Ricciardo to drive based on his driving style.

Perhaps the AT04, as bad as it tends to be could suit Ricciardo's driving style. It shares some degree of Red Bull DNA, and that was Ricciardo was at his most successful. However, the last time he drove a Red Bull in a Grand Prix was in 2018. That was well before the regulations were overhauled in 2022 meaning he was driving a completely different car.

The team will certainly benefit from Ricciardo's veteran presence when it comes to getting feedback and developing this car through the rest of the season.

Whatever happens, at least we'll get to see the social media manager's dream that is a Yuki Tsunoda/Daniel Ricciardo driver pairing.

Follow on Twitter: @Matt_Reigle