Daniel Ricciardo’s summer break is set to be extended after being ruled out of this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix with a broken hand after a bizarre crash in practice.
Coming into turn three fellow Australian driver Oscar Piastri lost the backend of his McLaren and ended up in the wall before moments later Riccardo followed him running wide and collecting the barrier head-on.
The two Aussies were thankfully able to clamber out of their cars after their accidents but the 34-year-old Ricciardo had difficulty getting out of his cockpit because his hand had still been on the steering wheel as he hit the wall.
He had to be treated in hospital before his team reported: “An X-ray confirmed he sustained a break to a metacarpal on his left hand, and this injury will not allow him to continue his duties, so he will be replaced by the team’s reserve driver Liam Lawson for the remainder of this weekend.”
The incident left Piastri reflecting that Ricciardo’s actions may have prevented an even more serious incident.
“If you’re coming into that corner, it’s blind, so maybe he saw me too late and turned to the wall instead of into me. So if he did, thank you,” said the Melbourne rookie.
It’s a huge blow in Ricciardo’s quest to get back into a Red Bull seat.
The 21-year-old Lawson is seen as a major challenger to Ricciardo should Sergio Perez’s Red Bull seat become available in 2025 and it’s a huge opportunity for him to lay down his marker in Ricciardo’s absence.
With the Italian Grand Prix taking place next weekend there is also doubt over Ricciardo’s chances of contesting at Monza the place of his last F1, then at McLaren in 2021.
The crash comes after Ricciardo said he was enjoying his return to F1 following his six month break and difficult final season with McLaren.
“Coming back in, I feel… I feel like it’s me 10 years ago. I feel like I do have that kind of young energy again and that motivation, and ultimately just that happiness and love to be back on the grid and to be racing,” he said to F1 media.
“It’s just kind of stripping everything back and getting back to the pure enjoyment of the sport and the love of it,”
“It probably got a little bit clouded over the last year or two, and I certainly found myself not in a place where I was enjoying it as much as I wanted.”