MONZA, Italy — Formula One driver Daniel Ricciardo is unlikely to race in Singapore Grand Prix next week, and could also miss Japan’s race, as he continues his recovery from a broken hand, according to Red Bull boss Christian Horner.
The 34-year-old Australian suffered the injury in practice for last month’s Dutch Grand Prix and had surgery in Spain on August 27.
New Zealander Liam Lawson replaced Ricciardo at the Red Bull-owned sister team at Zandvoort and in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza last weekend.
“Certainly Singapore, I don’t think there’s any chance he (Ricciardo) will be ready for then. It would be optimistic for Japan,” Horner told reporters.
“We’ve seen with motorcyclists rushing comebacks, they sometimes do more damage so I think we just want to make sure he’s fully fit before he gets back in the car.”
Horner said Lawson, who has been racing in Japan this year and would undoubtedly feel at home at Suzuka, had done a solid job.
“I think he’s acquitted himself very well,” he said according to Reuters.
Ricciardo, an eight-time Grand Prix winner, was axed by McLaren at the end of last year but made an unexpected return to F1 in July to replace Nyck de Vries for the rest of the season.
He placed 13th at the Hungarian GP and 16th in Belgium.
Kiwi driver Liam Lawson has once again impressed at the Formula One Italian Grand Prix at Monza, crossing the line in eleventh and falling just short of securing points.
The 21-year-old lined up at twelfth on the grid, following an impressive result at the Dutch GP, starting last and finishing thirteenth.
Lawson started right behind his teammate Yuki Tsunoda – who didn’t end up racing thanks to a suspected power box failure during the formation lap.
While still an impressive result, Lawson said he was “disappointed” not to have scored any points for the team.
“A couple of things went wrong, we need to look into the start, as I could have done a better job, and that’s where we lost the chance. The pace wasn’t too bad then, but the race slightly got away from us,” he said in a statement.
“I’m still learning the procedures and definitely starting to feel more comfortable in the car, but I’m just a little bit disappointed with my race, as I think we may have had the pace for points.”
But he did say he’s starting to adjust to the car and felt much more prepared going into the race weekend.
“I’m not sure, though, so we need to look into it. These races are longer than I’m used to, so definitely adjusting, but I felt much more prepared than I did last weekend, so I’m happy about that.”
Runaway F1 leader Max Verstappen secured a record 10th straight win with victory, with a Red Bull one-two on Ferrari’s home track. “That’s a nice stat,” Verstappen said on team radio immediately after the win.
Another flawless performance from the two-time defending champion saw Verstappen beat teammate Sergio Perez by 6.802 seconds.
Carlos Sainz Jr was third, 11.082 behind Verstappen and just ahead of Charles Leclerc, as the two Ferrari drivers battled for the final spot on Monza’s iconic podium.
“I never would have believed that was possible, but we had to work for it, and that made it definitely a lot more fun,” Verstappen said.
Discussion about this post