Alpha Tauri has confirmed Liam Lawson will continue to drive with the team in place of the injured Daniel Ricciardo for the Italian Grand Prix. Lawson made his Formula 1 debut for the team after Ricciardo found himself in the barriers and was injured during last Friday’s practice at Zandvoort last weekend.
The Australian sustained a break to a metacarpal in his left hand and flew out to Barcelona on Saturday to receive surgery, which was successful. The team has decided to continue with Liam Lawson for the foreseeable as Ricciardo recovers from the surgery.
Liam Lawson to replace injured Daniel Ricciardo at 2023 Italian Grand Prix
Alpha Tauri has made a formal announcement regarding the status of Liam Lawson as a substitute for Daniel Ricciardo. It has been confirmed that Lawson will continue to fill in for Ricciardo until the latter is deemed fit to resume his racing activities.
This decision comes after Ricciardo’s unfortunate injury during the second practice of the Dutch Grand Prix, where he crashed and sustained a fracture to his hand. As a result, Lawson, a promising young talent, was introduced by Red Bull to take on the role of Ricciardo’s substitute.
Although Lawson qualified 20th for the race, he performed admirably in his first Formula 1 race, finishing 13th despite dealing with wet weather, red flags, Safety Car restarts, and a penalty. At the same time, on Sunday, Ricciardo had his hand operated on in Spain. Christian Horner, the head of Red Bull, revealed the news after the race in Zandvoort that Ricciardo would be sidelined at least until after the Italian Grand Prix the following week.
Liam Lawson confirmed to drive alongside Yuki until Daniel is fit pic.twitter.com/GQ6TgEw75H
— Scuderia AlphaTauri (@AlphaTauriF1) August 28, 2023
In spite of Liam Lawson’s “sketchy” assessment of his F1 debut, Christian Horner praised him after the race. As to finish the season’s most weather-unpredictable race in 13th place is quite an accomplishment, especially considering he only had one rainy practice session to familiarize himself with the vehicle before qualifying.
What happened to Daniel Ricciardo? Explained
Unfortunately, Daniel Ricciardo was forced to pull out of the Dutch Grand Prix race due to an injury sustained during Friday’s practice session. It appears that he broke his hand in an accident after colliding with the barriers at Turn 3 of Zandvoort. Reports indicate that he was attempting to avoid Oscar Piastri in FP2 at the time of the incident. After exiting the vehicle, Ricciardo visibly displayed signs of discomfort, and later replays revealed that he was holding onto the steering wheel during the collision with the wall.
After being brought to the medical facility and then a nearby hospital, Alpha Tauri has confirmed that Daniel Ricciardo fractured a metacarpal in his left hand and will not be able to compete in the race, which would have been the third for the Red Bull sister team since Ricciardo’s return to F1. After that, on Sunday, Ricciardo had hand surgery in Spain.
The Australian driver posted on social media on Sunday evening saying “Had surgery this morning, got my first bit of metalwork so that’s cool,”
“Big thanks to everyone who reached out and kept my spirits up. This ain’t a setback, just all part of the comeback.”
Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal, announced that the Honey Badger will not compete until the end of the Italian Grand Prix next week, after Sunday’s Zandvoort race.
“He had an operation earlier today, he’s had several screws and a plate fitted to his metacarpal, it went well, it was successful,” said Horner.
What do you think about Liam Lawson and his performance? And do you think Ricciardo can recover before the Singapore GP? Let us know your views in the comments section down below.
