2023 is not turning out to be a good season for rookie Nyck de Vries. The Dutchman came into AlphaTauri with a lot of promise after a phenomenal one-off performance last year in Italy. De Vries replaced an ailing Alex Albon and saw his way into points finish that quickly saw him become a hot property. However, since his arrival as a full-timer in Red Bull’s sister team, he has failed to live up to the expectations. Rumors now suggest that Helmut Marko is losing patience with Nyck and has delivered him an ultimatum. Could it be a gateway for Daniel Ricciardo to make an unexpected entry into the 2023 grid?

Ricciardo decided to take a year off from F1 after 2 years of underwhelming performances at McLaren. The Honey Badger and the Woking-based team mutually terminated the contract prematurely by one year. Since then, he’s been serving Red Bull as a third driver, aiming to make a comeback in 2024.

Will Daniel Ricciardo replace Nyck de Vries after Helmut Marko’s ultimatum?

De Vries, who is drawing a $2 million salary, has failed to score any points from the first 5 races until now. Moreover, he has crashed the car a couple of times and for an arguably cash-strapped team like AlphaTauri, that is unacceptable. Also, a man like Helmut Marko demands nothing but excellence, and if Motorsport.com’s report is to go by, the octogenarian is losing patience.

Motorsport has also learned that Ricciardo is already there in Faenza, AlphaTauri’s headquarters. Until now, rumors spoke about him getting a seat ready for himself as a third driver. However, the latest on de Vries suggests that might not actually be true.

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It is not like AlphaTauri has delivered a quick car to its drivers. But, Yuki Tsunoda has fared much better than his teammate. The Japanese pocket rocket may only have 2 points to his name until now in the season, but the gulf between his performance and his teammate’s is massive.

Is Ricciardo really interested in an AlphaTauri seat?

Following his breakup with McLaren, Ricciardo refused Haas’ $7 million offer to replace Mick Schumacher. The Aussie driver insisted on a comeback after a year and get a seat worthy of his stature. He recently echoed a similar sentiment in an interview following the conclusion of the Australian GP.

Speaking with Speedcafe, Ricciardo told, “I still am at a point where it’s not at any cost, it’s not just to be back on the grid. So a lot of the reasons of taking this year off, one of the things I said, I was like, I just didn’t want to jump back into a car, any car just to be one of the F1 drivers.”

“And I still feel that. I don’t see myself kind of starting from scratch and rebuilding a career from ground zero and going at it for another decade.”

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His comments beg the question- Is Helmut Marko bluffing with his threats to de Vries? Or is Ricciardo really ready to swallow his pride and take a seat with an arguably lower-rung team?