Red Bull is not a team that gives second chances when a driver isn’t meeting its expectations. If a driver is in any of its four seats on the grid—including the two at AlphaTauri—they’re under constant scrutiny. And Red Bull waits for the tiniest of slip-ups to oust that driver and replace them. That’s exactly what happened with 28-year-old rookie Nyck de Vries who was partnering with Yuki Tsunoda at AlphaTauri until the British GP, after which Red Bull reserve driver Daniel Ricciardo replaced him.

After his ouster from McLaren at the end of last season, Ricciardo joined Red Bull as its third driver this year, but since then, he has expressed his intent on returning to the grid. de Vries didn’t have the best season, scoring any points in the 10 races. When he started making mistakes and underperforming, his seat instantly came into question, with Ricciardo being one of the main contenders to replace him in 2024. But Red Bull acted earlier than expected, and Helmut Marko called De Vries last Tuesday and delivered the blow. 

According to the Dutchman, as quoted by motorsport.nextgen-auto.com, he was “completely caught off guard,” especially considering he was on contract with AlphaTauri until the end of 2024. He knew his seat was in danger, but he expected to have at least a season to adapt and perform. But Red Bull has other plans. After brutally sacking de Vries, the rookie revealed the team had promised him, “the second Red Bull seat in 2025.” After making such promises and then prematurely and unceremoniously sacking him, de Vries wasn’t in the least bit happy. And he expressed just that by hitting Red Bull where it hurt.

Nyck De Vries’ Manager Reveals Disrespectful Treatment Meted Out by Red Bull to His Client While Revealing the Forced Reason Behind Unexpected Announcement

Max Verstappen’s 2021 Championship was one of the most controversial title deciders in recent history. While Max might not think about it that much, his compatriot de Vries sure does. After expressing his fury, he said his ouster was “not surprising after Red Bull stole Lewis Hamilton’s eighth title.” It made sense for him to say this because he was affiliated with Mercedes then. But he also compared the situation to how Red Bull not only broke its promise to him but also stole his dream of driving for the Milton-Keynes team. Helmut Marko made two calls that day, and unfortunately, de Vries was on the other end of the bad one. But Ricciardo answered the good one.

Helmut Marko reignited Daniel Ricciardo’s dream

Last Tuesday, Daniel Ricciardo stepped into the RB19 for Pirelli’s tire test at Silverstone. As soon as he started his running, Christian Horner saw the spark the Aussie had back in his Red Bull days and conveyed it to Marko. That’s when Marko called de Vries. Later that night, he called Ricciardo and gave him the news he’d wanted to hear.

In an interview with F1, Daniel revealed what it was like to hear Marko give him a second chance. He said, “I was like, ‘okay, let’s just hear what he has to say’. That’s probably the best thing, because sometimes, you try to prepare yourself for ‘what if he asks me this.’ I didn’t really need to think much about it. Being back in this family, I feel like I am kind of going through it all again – these are the calls I used to get, and these are the moments they used to throw in front of us.”

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Ricciardo was sure glad to pick that call up. Are you glad to see him back on the grid? What do you think about de Vries’ comment about that night in Abu Dhabi?