Following his FP2 crash at the Dutch Grand Prix on Friday and subsequent injury to his hand that required surgery, it’s been unsurprisingly confirmed that Liam Lawson will replace Daniel Ricciardo at this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix in Monza.
The Kiwi finished a respectable P13 on his F1 debut in one of the most chaotic races possible for a driver on his first appearance in the sport.
Photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool
He finished right behind Yuki Tsunoda on the race but gained a spot from his teammate as the Japanese driver got hit with a 5-second penalty for an incident with George Russell earlier in the race.
With a long break until the final round of the Super Formula season at Suzuka, Lawson has been entrusted by AlphaTauri to replace the Australian until Ricciardo is available to return to action.
AlphaTauri statement
“We are delighted that Daniel’s surgery went well and that he is now on the road to recovery.
“We hope to see him at the track again very soon, but until he is fully fit, we can confirm that Liam, who did a good job in difficult circumstances in Zandvoort, will continue to drive alongside Yuki, starting from our home race this weekend in Monza.”
Speaking to Sky Germany ahead of yesterday’s race at Zandvoort, Helmut Marko confirmed the fracture Ricciardo picked up in the crash is more complicated than just a straight fracture in the hand.
“Unfortunately, the fracture is complicated, it’s not a straight fracture.”
“We’ll get an approximate opinion from the doctor tonight, but things are looking rather bad for the next two races,” said Marko.
Ricciardo will miss Monza and Singapore. Time will tell if he goes on to skip more races due to his injury. He had an operation yesterday performed by Doctor Mir. Mir is based in Barcelona and has helped many MotoGP riders over the years following crashes.
