Ricciardo pushes on with recovery from broken hand as he shares social media update

Daniel Ricciardo has taken to social media to share the latest on his recovery from the broken hand that kept him out of the last two races in the Netherlands and Italy.

Ricciardo, who replaced Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri midway through the season, suffered a broken metacarpal during a Friday practice crash at Zandvoort, putting him out of action on the spot.

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He subsequently underwent surgery that involved placing a metal plate and some screws to secure the bone, with Red Bull junior Liam Lawson being drafted in to take his seat for the time being.

On Friday, Ricciardo shared a photo of his hand post-operation with the caption “relatively unchanged”, along with a clip of him singing his way through training as he attempts to get back to full fitness.

As for when Ricciardo could return to the cockpit, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner recently commented that the next two races in Singapore (September 15-17) and Japan (September 22-24) are both likely out of reach.

“I think certainly Singapore… I don’t think there’s any chance he’ll be ready for then,” said Horner. “It would be optimistic for Japan, but his recovery is going well. He’s got mobility of the hand and is into rehabilitation now.

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“We’ve seen with motorcyclists rushing comebacks they can sometimes do more damage, so we just want to make sure he’s fully fit before we get [him] back in the car.”

AlphaTauri have already confirmed that Lawson – who has been racing in the Japan-based Super Formula series this year and sits second in the standings ahead of the season finale – will continue in Ricciardo’s place until the Australian has sufficiently recovered.