Dom Romney/Motorsport Images
Ricciardo breaks hand, Lawson to make debut for AlphaTauri
X-rays have confirmed Daniel Ricciardo broke a bone in his hand during a crash in Friday's second practice for the Dutch Grand Prix, and the Australian has been ruled out of action. AlphaTauri reserve driver Liam Lawson has been called up to replace him for the rest of the Zandvoort weekend.
Ricciardo hit the wall at Turn 3 after coming across a stricken McLaren after Oscar Piastri had also had crashed just ahead of him, with the AlphaTauri driver holding onto the steering wheel until impact. Although seemingly innocuous in terms of the speed of the crash, the kickback of the wheel left Ricciardo complaining of pain in his hand, and he was subsequently taken to a local hospital for X-rays.
Those have now confirmed a broken metacarpal for the Australian that will rule him out for an indefinite period of time, with Red Bull opting to put its reserve driver Lawson in the AlphaTauri for the rest of the race weekend, starting with FP3 on Saturday.
"After today’s incident during Free Practice 2 in Zandvoort, in which Daniel Ricciardo hit the barrier at Turn 3, he was brought to the local hospital and further examinations were carried out," an AlphaTauri statement read. "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 team wishes him all the best for the quickest possible recovery."
Liam Lawson's FP3 appearance will be his first laps in the current AlphaTauri. Yasushi Ishihara/Motorsport Images
Lawson has yet to drive this year’s AlphaTauri but has carried out simulator duties this year, as well as FP1s and young driver test outings in the past.
Red Bull could have called upon former driver Nyck de Vries as the Dutchman is still understood to be under contract despite losing his race seat, but has instead opted for Lawson who was already at Zandvoort in his reserve driver role.
Lawson is currently racing in Super Formula in Japan, and sits second in the championship after three victories in seven races, with only a doubleheader at Suzuka remaining. The New Zealander raced at Zandvoort in Formula 2 last year.
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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