Christian Horner, the head of Red Bull, anticipates that Daniel Ricciardo will aim to make his Formula One comeback at the Singapore Grand Prix on September 17.
During Friday training for this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, Ricciardo crashed his AlphaTauri, breaking a bone in his hand. He is anticipated to miss the race in Monza next week as a result of this injury.
In the sister team of Red Bull, Liam Lawson, a reserve driver, will make his racing debut in Ricciardo’s place.
In order to see Dr. Javier Mir, the same physician who assisted Lance Stroll in competing in the season’s first race despite breaking his wrist in a bicycle accident 12 days earlier, Ricciardo has traveled to Spain.
“You see it in MotoGP, these guys recover pretty quickly,” Horner said on Saturday to Sky Sports. “He is traveling to Barcelona today. They might even perform a minor procedure on him tomorrow to simply clean up the area around the break.
“Any average human would likely be 10 to 12 weeks, but we are aware that these men aren’t typical. Everything will revolve around how long the recovery process would take.
“Will it take three weeks? six weeks? Is that six weeks? Nobody truly is aware.
For Ricciardo, who had only joined AlphaTauri two races prior to the summer break, the injury was a harsh blow.
At the end of 2022, McLaren fired Ricciardo, who was then hired as third driver by Red Bull, the team he had left in 2018.
In a pact that will last until the end of the year, the Australian driver will take Nyck de Vries’ spot from the Hungarian Grand Prix in July. His ultimate ambition is to rejoin Red Bull’s senior team, which will probably need another full season with AlphaTauri the following year.
When he spoke with Horner yesterday night, “it was the issue he was most upset about. He recently had a lot of time off, returned to the game, and is now back on the bench. He was irritated about that.
“They [Alpha Tauri] have made some headway. It’s unfortunate for him, but I have no doubt that Singapore is on his radar. On the other hand, Singapore is likely one of the most challenging circuits on the schedule. Nature will proceed in its own way.
Lawson, who Red Bull had placed in the Japanese series Super Formula this year, now has a tremendous opportunity as a result of the injury.
Lawson was thought to be a potential candidate for an AlphaTauri drive. Ricciardo’s concern that Lawson might have replaced De Vries, pleased Red Bull management, and retained the seat over the long term, closing the door on Ricciardo’s potential, was a factor in his choice to return with AlphaTauri this year.