Why AlphaTauri managing director Peter Bayer thinks it is “unlikely” that Daniel Ricciardo will be driving again as early as the Formula 1 race in Monza
When will Daniel Ricciardo’s injury break end? It’s “difficult to say at the moment”, says AlphaTauri managing director Peter Bayer in an interview with Sky. Ricciardo suffered a hand injury on Friday in Zandvoort and now needs treatment.
The exact nature of this treatment will probably be decided on the qualifying day for the Dutch Grand Prix, not in Zandvoort, but in Barcelona. Ricciardo will fly there to be examined. “Then [the doctors] will decide whether to operate today or tomorrow morning,” Bayer explained to ServusTV.
They wish Ricciardo “all the best” and that the injury “heals as quickly as possible”, but know that the Australian racing driver is in the best hands with Dr. Xavier Mir, Bayer continued: “We have seen that these doctors sometimes work miracles, with Lance Stroll or in MotoGP. And of course we hope for the very best. But now we’ll leave him alone and let him recover. “
Will Ricciardo be back in the race car as early as Monza?
Although the thoughts at AlphaTauri are already turning to a comeback for Ricciardo in the race car, although a date for this has not yet been set. “If the operation is successful, we hope that [the comeback] will not be too long in coming,” says Bayer. Wait and see is the order of the day, and a return of Ricciardo in Monza in a week’s time is “really unlikely”.
The tight Formula 1 schedule with only a few days’ break and the severity of the injury in Ricciardo’s hand hardly allow for that, says Bayer. He explains: “The outer metacarpal bone is straight through, not just cracked. The bone is in two directions.” This is “certainly very painful” for Ricciardo.
That’s why Bayer pleads for “one thing at a time” and wants to “hope for the best” for his Formula 1 driver, who will be replaced at short notice by Red Bull junior Liam Lawson at Zandvoort. For Lawson, this outing marks his Formula 1 debut as a regular driver.
Horner: Timing for injury is maximum annoying
How long Lawson can act as Ricciardo’s deputy? That is still unclear. According to Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, however, injured racers are generally “back pretty quickly”.
Horner also refers to MotoGP and says on Sky: “After the operation it’s a question of regeneration and how long it takes. In a normal person you would expect it to take ten to twelve weeks, but racing drivers are not normal people. So the question is: will it take three weeks, a month or six weeks? Nobody really knows beforehand. “
And that leaves Ricciardo facing an enforced break of uncertain length. “That’s what frustrates him most about it,” says Horner. “He had a long time off, just regained his mojo and now he’s already back on the bench. “
AlphaTauri digests “shock moment “
So the injury-related retirement came at the worst possible time for Ricciardo. “He had felt the progress in the car. So it’s a shame for him,” Horner says. “But I guess he probably already has Singapore [on 17 September] in the back of his mind as a target [for a comeback], Singapore being probably one of the toughest tracks on the calendar. But the bottom line is that his [body] decides.”
And AlphaTauri is in the process of digesting the “shock moment” caused by Ricciardo’s accident and injury, says Bayer. “Daniel is in pain and of course very, very disappointed, also for the team. You have to imagine: Daniel is not only a top rider, but also a top motivator for the team. Accordingly, we miss him, of course. “
