De Vries sacked mid-season: these drivers experienced the same

Doornbos replaces Klien

The first time a Red Bull driver was sacked during the season was in 2006. Here, Christian Klien was replaced for the last three races by Robert Doornbos. The driver from Austria had still won the battle for the second spot at Red Bull behind David Coulthard from Vitantonio Liuzzi in 2005, but in 2006 the driver was thus replaced during the season.

Vettel joins Toro Rosso

Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel also made his debut for Toro Rosso after someone was not allowed to finish his season at a Red Bull team, in this case Toro Rosso. The German replaced American Scott Speed at the Italian team in 2007. A year later, Vettel managed to win his and Toro Rosso's first race, at Monza.

In 2009, the same happened, again a driver at Red Bull's sister team was sacked early in the season. This time it was Sebastien Bourdais' turn. The German was replaced by Spaniard Jamie Alguersuari. Just as Ricciardo is about to do, Alguersuari replaced Bourdais from the Hungarian Grand Prix onwards.

Verstappen replaces Kvyat

The most famous of all is probably the replacement of Daniil Kvyat by Max Verstappen. The Russian was promoted from Toro Rosso to Red Bull in 2015 after Vettel's departure to Ferrari. In 2015, Kvyat was allowed to drive all races for the Austrian team, but a year later in 2016, the Russian driver was replaced by Verstappen after only four races, at the Spanish GP. The Dutchman immediately won his first race for his new team, which was extra painful for Kvyat.

Kvyat to be replaced again

In 2017, Kvyat was once again the victim. The Russian was allowed to race for Toro Rosso for much of the season after his relegation to the team in 2016, but was replaced by Pierre Gasly from the Malaysian Grand Prix onwards. This saw the Russian sent off for the second time in his F1 career still during the season.

Gasly will be replaced by Albon at Spa

2019 was the last time before this Tuesday that a driver from the Red Bull family had to make way for someone else in the middle of the season. This time it was Gasly who actually had to make way, unlike 2017, where it was the other way around for the Frenchman. Gasly performed disappointingly alongside Verstappen and was replaced by Alexander Albon from the Spa-Francorchamps Grand Prix onwards. The Frenchman did get Albon's seat at Toro Rosso and made the switch to Alpine after three-and-a-half years with Red Bull's sister team. So in 2023, it's back to square one: De Vries will be replaced by Ricciardo after only ten races.