Daniel Ricciardo’s prospective return date has been pushed back by Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. The Australian driver was caught up in a crash at the Dutch Grand Prix, fracturing a metacarpal bone in his left hand.
With Nyck de Vries fired and Ricciardo sidelined with an injury, AlphaTauri called upon their fourth driver of the season to race in Zandvoort and Monza with Liam Lawson making his F1 debut at short notice.
The 21-year-old prodigy has impressed in both of his outings in F1 machinery thus far, keeping things clean in changeable conditions at the Dutch GP and progressing to within an inch of the points at Monza after punching in some impressive qualifying laps.
Speaking about Ricciardo’s injury situation, Horner explained: “I think certainly Singapore, I don’t think there’s any chance he’ll be ready for then. It would be optimistic for Japan but his recovery is going well. He’s got mobility of the hand and is into rehabilitation now.
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“We’ve seen with motorcyclists rushing comebacks they can sometimes do more damage. So we just want to make sure he’s fully fit before we get back in the car.”
With Ricciardo guaranteed to be out for the physical Singapore Grand Prix, Lawson will get a third shot at impressing the Red Bull hierarchy as he looks to secure a full-time drive for the 2024 campaign at AlphaTauri.
Horner also touched on Lawson’s desire to step into the car at Suzuka, continuing: “I should think he’s pretty keen to be in the car in Suzuka. We’ll just take it on a day-by-day basis and see how the recovery and nature takes its course.
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“I think he did a solid job today. I haven’t followed his race that closely. They went for a two-stop, which was unconventional on today’s strategy. So I’ll have to have a look at the analysis after the race but I think he’s acquitted himself very well.”
Lawson’s attachment to Suzuka is born from his participation in the Super Formula series, which is run exclusively on Japanese race tracks, including the legendary circuit that F1 attends each year.
The young New Zealander has made a gigantic splash in the series since making the step across from Europe, getting the better of two-time champion team-mate Tomoki Nojiri in his debut campaign and launching a title charge against Ritomo Miyata heading into the season finale.
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