Formula 1 is an unforgiving sport, and it's even more brutal if you are part of the Red Bull driver pool. Rumours have been swirling for weeks now that Nyck de Vries, 2019 F2 champion & 2020/21 Formula E champion, could be on the way out at AlphaTauri. Those rumours have only amplified in recent days.
While the 2023 AlphaTauri is a bit of a tractor, de Vries has been less than impressive and it looks like the ruthless Dr Helmut Marko has had enough. Following rumours from the Dutch press, F1 has announced Daniel Ricciardo is set to replace de Vries in the upcoming Hungarian Grand Prix for the rest of the year.
Coming just a month after the release of F1 23, will we see Danny Ric get added to the game?
Will Daniel Ricciardo be added to F1 23?
Update: Codemasters has since confirmed to RacingGames that Daniel Ricciardo will return to F1 23 at some point. We can't wait to race as the Honey Badger once again.
While F1 Manager 2023 will have a full suite of reserve drivers to sign, Codemasters has never carried extras in their career mode. As a result, you can't currently sign Ricciardo in the game. This could change now that he's about to be a full-time F1 driver again.
In this case, we would love Codemasters to add Ricciardo back into the game. He's a firm fan favourite in the F1 and gaming world. It shouldn't be too hard given he was in F1 22 and his face scan, driver info, and even commentary voice lines all already exist for Codemasters. It would just be a case of replacing de Vries with assets they already have.
What would his rating be?
After a rough time at Woking, McLaren bought Daniel Ricciardo out of his contract and poached F2 champion Oscar Pisatri from Alpine. That seems like a great move for McLaren, and it allowed Ricciardo to return to Red Bull as a reserve driver to work through his bad form on the simulator.
His awful performances saw his final F1 22 driver rating hit a dreadful 79. We would expect a roughly similar rating should he return to the game, though it could improve quickly if he does well. Though as we said, this year's AlphaTauri isn't exactly a great car.