Alpha Tauri released a statement Monday evening relieving Nyck De Vries of his services for the team. The Dutchman did not have a particularly good start to his rookie F1 season. After going point-less in each of the 10 races he entered, his axing was seriously anticipated by the F1 juggernaut. Moreover, being out-qualified by teammate Yuki Tsunoda in every outing did not help his cause either.
Now, Red Bull reserve driver and 8-time Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo is all set to replace him in the Italian team. Ricciardo performed a test for the senior team on Monday and his impressive lap times sealed the spot for him. This mid-season sacking of De Vries has sent shock waves across the F1 community. Many are considering this a harsh step toward a promising rookie. However, this is not entirely a new concept in the sport
Previously, multiple teams have taken this route when one of the drivers fail to deliver consistently. Primarily, Red Bull as a unit is stringent on the concept of swim or sink as per your performance. In the past, many drivers have been at the receiving end of Helmut Marko’s wrath. The first names that come to mind are Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly, and Danii Kyvat. All three of them faced transfer to Alpha Tauri, erstwhile Toro Rosso after a sub-optimum result in a Red Bull car.
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From Schumacher to Vettel: Top Mid-Season Transfers in F1
As said earlier, it is not a new concept that teams adapt to optimize their chances of a championship. From time to time, smaller to bigger teams have pushed drivers away and brought another talent to don the seat. The aforementioned names of Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel have been on the better side of these transfers. However, there is a long list of drivers who faced the disappointment of being axed midway into a season.
1991: Schumacher replaces Moreno
Back in the middle of the 1991 season, Italian F1 Team Benetton decided to make a highly-controversial swap of their regular driver Roberto Moreno with up-and-coming talent Michael Schumacher after his exceptional performance for Jordan. He went on to win two championships and multiple races for them.
2004: Villeneuve replaces Trulli
A similar incident ensued in 2004 when Renault sacked the services of Jarno Trulli who was losing out to teammate Fernando Alonso. In hopes of getting P2 in the constructors’ championship, Renault put Jacques Villeneuve behind the wheel for three races that season, however, without success.
2007: Vettel replaces Speed
Sebastian Vettel made his second Grand Prix start replacing Scott Speed at Toro Rosso for the 2007 Hungarian GP after an exception session for BMW.
2016: Verstappen replaces Kyvat
Danii Kyvat was promoted to Red Bull to replace outbound Sebastian Vettel in 2014. However, after an array of sub-optimal performances and a lap one crash with Vettel at Sochi 2016, the team decided to replace him with the man they bet a lot on as a 16-year-old, Max Verstappen.
2019: Albon Replaces Gasly
Pierre Gasly started off his Red Bull as a talented youngster but soon the ghost of being Max Verstappen’s teammate got to him. With a best finish of 4th, he could not reach to the levels of Verstappen and was eventually demoted to Toro Rosso with Alex Albon replacing him midway into the season.
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