Daniel Ricciardo has broken his wrist and will be replaced at AlphaTauri for the remainder of the Dutch Grand Prix weekend by Formula 1 debutant Liam Lawson, The Race understands.
Ricciardo crashed in Friday’s second practice session at Zandvoort and it was immediately clear his hand was injured.
Though the impact with the barrier was not especially violent Ricciardo had held onto the steering wheel, and the kickback from that through his wrist clearly caused him immediate pain.
He was checked in the medical centre then sent to a local hospital right away for further checks, and The Race has been told Ricciardo has suffered a broken wrist.
It means Ricciardo, who only returned to the F1 grid with AlphaTauri two races before the summer break in Hungary, faces a yet-to-be-determined period on the sidelines.
He will be replaced for the remainder of the Dutch GP weekend by Red Bull junior and reserve driver Lawson.
The New Zealander won races in Formula 2 last year but missed out on an F1 graduation as AlphaTauri initially signed the more experienced Nyck de Vries before axing him after 10 races for Ricciardo.
Lawson has instead spent the year fighting for the title in Japan’s Super Formula championship, which he can still win.
The next Super Formula round is not until the Suzuka double-header finale at the end of October, so Lawson should be clear to deputise for Ricciardo for as long as Red Bull needs him to.
Keyword: Ricciardo breaks wrist in FP2 crash, Lawson gets F1 debut