One of the highlights of the first half of the season was the firing of Nick de Vries from Alpha Tauri. Most likely, on this sad note, the Dutchman said goodbye to the Royal Races forever. However, Nick is unlikely to be out of a job: in Formula E or the WEC, there are sure to be teams ready to take on De Vries. Well, for now we will remember how the fate of the pilots turned out, who were fired relatively recently by Formula 1 teams.
Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) – 2022
Until recently, this was the most recent example of early termination of the team’s contract with the driver. Dan Ricciardo arrived at McLaren with the aim of taking the next step after a controversial stage at Renault. Who would have thought that this transfer move would cost the Australian a place in the peloton.
For two years, Ricciardo disappointed the McLaren management so much that Woking did not skimp on paying compensation for the termination of the contract worth 20 million euros! Without a team, Dan couldn’t think of anything better than to return to Red Bull as a reserve driver. It would seem that in this his career as a fighter pilot came to a logical conclusion, but this summer it was suddenly revived by the disastrous results of Nick de Vries: on the eve of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Riccardo took the place of the Dutchman. in the cockpit of Alpha Tauri.
Moreover, Dan not only returned to the F-1 peloton, but also got a chance to compete for a place at Red Bull – this whole story is painfully similar to Riccardo’s girlfriend before a possible promotion to the main bull team. However, the Australian will be able to become Max Verstappen’s partner only if he performs impeccably for Alpha Tauri.
Riccardo’s transition to Alpha Tauri is still alarming:
Riccardo in Alpha Tauri is a bad idea. What’s wrong with Dan’s possible return?
Nikita Mazepin (Haas) – 2022
Mazepin lost his place in Formula 1 even before the start of the 2022 season, during pre-season testing in Barcelona. Against the background of understandable foreign policy developments, Haas considered it impossible to continue cooperation with the Russian company Uralkali and, consequently, with Nikita. Among other things, Mazepin was also subject to personal EU sanctions, ending the prospects for him in many foreign racing series.
Last tests of Mazepin with Haas
Photo: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images
Shut out of the world of motorsports, Nikita turned his attention to off-road racing. In summer, for the first time, he participated in the Silk Way rally-raid, winning the ATV on the move class. And already at the beginning of 2023, the Russian returned to the international arena: his debut in the Asian Le Mans Series in the LMP2 class. In four races, Mazepin’s team finished in the top 3 twice.
The EU Court of Justice has twice suspended sanctions against the Russian pilot. Mazepin once again has the right to compete in Europe, as well as to negotiate with the racing teams. Perhaps next season we will see a full return of Nikita to the global motorsport community.
Mazepin’s former team is looking forward to Formula 1:
Kazakhstan’s richest man helps Mazepin’s former team get into F-1. What are the possibilities?
Sergio Perez (Racing Point) – 2020
That rare case where layoff has a positive effect on a driver’s career. For seven years playing for Force India (in the future Racing Point), Perez managed to catch a change in the owner, name and, in general, the development vector of the team. Sergio could safely be called the leader of the Silverstone team, but for all that, in 2020, the Mexican asked him to leave, despite the current contract: the team cleared a place for the arrival of Sebastian Vettel (so as not to expel Lance Stroll).
Luckily for Sergio, at the end of 2020, Red Bull was looking for a co-driver. For Pérez, the contract with the bulls was the best deal of his career. So, the Mexican for the first time got a car capable of constantly fighting for victories. In three incomplete seasons at Red Bull, Cheko managed to win five races. Needless to say, if he were to stay at Aston Martin, one could only dream of such achievements.
In recent races, Perez has performed with varying degrees of success:
Ferrari is back, Pérez is getting closer to being fired. Belgian Grand Prix results
Daniel Kvyat (Toro Rosso) – 2017
We couldn’t do without Red Bull in the context of the layoffs. Kvyat felt the brutality of the bulls’ personnel policy in 2016, when right during the season he went the Red Bull – Toro Rosso route. The following year, he continued to play in the bullfighting youth team, and towards the end of the season he again fell victim to Dr. Marco’s personnel policy.
On the eve of the Malaysian stage (14 of 20), Kvyat was knocked out of the team by Pierre Gasly, who almost completed his performance in Japanese Super Formula. In the remaining six Grands Prix, Daniil only started once, replacing the Frenchman at Toro Rosso as he set off for the final stage of the Japanese championship.
Daniil Kvyat replaced Gasly at the 2017 US Grand Prix
Photo: Mark Thompson/Getty Images
Kvyat will spend next year in reserve driver status for Ferrari, and in 2019 he will once again return to the Formula 1 peloton, joining Toro Rosso itself. After spending two more seasons in the Bulls’ junior team, Daniil will finally lose his place on the F-1 starting grid.
In 2021, he will once again play the role of official reservist (this time with Alpin). The following year the Russian was supposed to pass in the WEC, but the foreign political situation did not allow Daniil to make his debut in endurance racing. Instead, he competed in Russian marathons and also tried his hand at NASCAR. Well, already in 2023, Kvyat finally made his WEC debut in the LMP2 class. The Russian will start next season already in the hypercar category as part of the Lamborghini factory team.
Read more about Red Bull’s transfer policy:
Red Bull doesn’t give racers a second chance. Are endless layoffs beneficial?
Jolyon Palmer (Reno) – 2017
Palmer is one of those drivers whose success in the junior series is not an indicator of talent. In 2014, the Briton won the GP2 championship on his fourth, not very impressive attempt. However, he managed to attract the attention of the F-1 team: he spent the 2015 season as a Lotus reservist.
The following year Lotus became Renault and Palmer was promoted to fighter pilot. Of course, Jolyon wasn’t the most obvious candidate for a vacant place in the F-1 field, but the Briton’s sponsorship package paved his way to the Royal Races.
In his debut season, Palmer, though he lost to teammate Magnussen, did not seem entirely hopeless. But the following year, when Hulkenberg became Jolyon’s partner, Renault saw the true level of the Briton. The Enstone bosses did not wait until the end of the season, sacking Palmer four stages before the end of the championship: Jolyon’s place was taken by Carlos Sainz, who left Toro Rosso.
Having lost his place in F-1, Palmer has in fact ended his racing career. In 2018, the Brit became a full-time BBC racing pundit. Later, he will write for the official Formula 1 website and, starting this year, Jolyon has been working on F1 TV as a commentator.
Palmer is one of the worst F1 drivers of the last decade:
Bags of money and only cucumbers. The 10 worst F1 drivers of the last decade
Harianto River (Yard) – 2016
Harianto is one of the last classic Formula 1 rental drivers. He was remembered for his time at Royal Races only by winning the first ballot for the title of “Runner of the Day” (270 million people live in Indonesia for a reason). Later, of course, the results were revised, but this precedent remained in history.
Unsurprisingly, Rio Harianto in Formula 1 is not impressed
Photo: Charles Coates/Getty Images
As for the sporting component of the Harianto race formula, everything there was limited to an intra-team battle with Pascal Wehrlein, which did not work out in favor of the Indonesian. However, the Manor bosses did not bring Harianto to the team because of his talent. Therefore, when Rio lost their sponsorship of him, he was immediately replaced by Esteban Ocon, right in the middle of the season.
In the future, Harianto will perform exclusively in Asian “corps”. In his home continent, he won’t achieve much success either. The last time Rio participated in motorsport competitions was in February 2020. Perhaps his career as a driver can be considered complete.
The most resonant castling of the season:
8 high-profile cases when Formula 1 drivers left the team right during the season
Pastor Maldonado (Lotus) – 2016
During his performances in the Royal Races, Pastor managed to become one of the 113 drivers who won in Formula 1. Despite the triumph in Barcelona, however, the Venezuelan has been a driver for hire throughout his career, being of interest to the teams mainly with its sponsorship package. Pastor had speed, but stability…
It was due to a lack of adequate financial support that Maldonado lost his place in F-1 in early 2016. Payment delays by Pastor’s main sponsor, the Venezuelan oil and gas company PDVSA, led to Renault ( returned to F-1 by buying the team from Lotus) to terminate Maldonado’s contract and promote Palmer.
Pastor will then become a full-time test driver for Pirelli and will also try unsuccessfully to return to F-1 through cooperation with Sauber. His attempts to debut in IndyCar also turned out to be a failure. Maldonado will return to the world of motorsport only in 2018: he will spend the next two years in endurance racing and even take third place in the LMP2 class at the end of one of the seasons. The last time Pastor went to the start of a racing competition was in the summer of 2019.
Maldonado is one of the most accidental F-1 drivers:
The main “crushers” in the history of Formula 1 – from the champion “Ferrari” to Maldonado
