While Daniel Ricciardo can already laugh again after successful surgery, Liam Lawson is preparing for his second race appearance for AlphaTauri
Franz Tost had already feared it on Sunday evening: “I think Liam Lawson will also drive Monza, because I don’t think Daniel Ricciardo will be fit for Monza. Anyway, we’ll send Lawson to the simulator so he can prepare for Monza. “
It is now clear that the AlphaTauri team boss was correct in his prediction. Until Ricciardo recovers from his injuries, the Italian racing team said in a statement on the short message service X (Twitter) on Monday, “we can confirm that Liam, who did a good job in difficult circumstances at Zandvoort, will drive alongside Yuki.”
Ricciardo suffered a metacarpal fracture in a turn 3 crash at Zandvoort on Friday and had to miss the rest of the weekend. On Sunday morning, he was operated on in Barcelona by Dr Xavier Mir, known as the doctor who usually stitches up MotoGP stars. Successfully, according to the team.
But: “The fracture was more complicated than expected,” says AlphaTauri CEO Peter Bayer. “Apparently there were several bone splinters to repair. He will now stay in Barcelona for a few days for observation. Then we’ll see how the healing starts and goes.” Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko had already feared: “It looks bad for the next two races.”
Because a broken metacarpal is no trifle. Red Bull team boss Christian Horner explains: “A normal person would be unable to work for ten to twelve weeks. But these guys are not normal. Nobody can say how long it will last: three weeks, a month, six weeks? We have to wait and see. “
Singapore a realistic date for comeback?
The Formula 1 schedule is merciless. After Zandvoort on 27 August and Monza on 3 September, Singapore is on the agenda on 17 September. “I’m sure he has Singapore in the back of his mind as a target,” Horner says. “On the other hand, Singapore is one of the most physically difficult tracks. Nature will allow it or not.”
If Ricciardo is not fit by Singapore, it is considered likely that he will not be able to drive at the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka a week later either. At the latest, he should be able to make a comeback on 8 October at the Qatar Grand Prix in Doha.
But maybe it will happen sooner than everyone thinks. Dr Mir has already performed miracles on a Formula 1 driver in early 2023, when Lance Stroll broke both wrists and a toe in a bicycle accident on 18 February and was still able to compete in the season opener in Bahrain from 3 to 5 March.
Mir fixed Ricciardo’s shatter fracture with several screws and a plate. The bone was broken in several places. In the end, however, the operation went without complications. And Ricciardo can already laugh again: He now also has a piece of metal in his body, and that is “pretty cool”, he writes on Instagram and adds: “This is not a setback, but part of my comeback!”
While Horner would understand if Ricciardo was secretly frustrated: “He had taken time off to get his mojo back, he came back and now he’s out of action again. That must be frustrating. Especially as he felt he was making real progress with the car. “
Lawson gets second chance after good debut
One man’s grief is another man’s joy: Liam Lawson, who represented Ricciardo respectably at the Dutch Grand Prix, thus gets a second chance at Monza. Or in view of the difficult circumstances at his debut in Zandvoort: a first real chance. Because now he has at least a few days to prepare.
“His weekend was fine, he got the best out of it,” writes Ralf Schumacher in his Sky column about the 21-year-old New Zealander. “Dr Marko gives him a lot of credit, some people see it a bit differently. Incidentally, it’s a sensation that a driver from the DTM has made it into Formula 1 again. That hasn’t happened for a long time. “
Lawson had stood up to his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda in qualifying at Zandvoort until he pitted towards the end of Q1 when conditions were at their best. In the race, he finished 13th and overtook calibres such as Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) on the track under his own power.
Lawson: Often won first race in new series
“Mainly” Lawson is competing in the Japanese Super Formula in 2023. There he is in second place before the season finale in Suzuka, but has the most wins of the season under his belt. He is also the official reserve driver for the two Red Bull teams in Formula 1. The Super Formula season finale will take place on 29 October, the same day as the Mexican Grand Prix.
Incidentally, a remarkable series of Lawson’s was snapped at Zandvoort. The New Zealander won his very first race in Formula 2 in 2021 and in the DTM as well as in the Super Formula in 2023. However, it was foreseeable that this would not work out in Formula 1 – and would hardly have succeeded even with better preparation for Zandvoort …