Daniel Ricciardo suffered seven bone fractures in his hand during his ugly crash at the Dutch Grand Prix.
The Aussie racer’s Red Bull team has now revealed the full extent of the injury to his left hand — having undergone surgery two weeks ago.
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Ricciardo hurtled into a barrier at turn three of the unforgiving seaside circuit, with his left hand on the wheel absorbing the impact.
An X-ray after the incident revealed he had sustained a break to a metacarpal in his left hand.
Red Bull senior adviser Helmut Marko has now suggested the injury could force Ricciardo to miss even more of the Formula 1 season.
Marko told Servus TV the timeline for Ricciardo’s return is not certain because the team will not take any risks putting him back in the AlphaTauri unless he is able to perform at his best.
“It’s complicated,” said Marko when he was asked about Ricciardo’s hand injury.
“There are seven fractures. The same doctor who operated on Marc Marquez is taking care of him.
“We are expecting a six-week break and have brought in a top replacement in Liam Lawson. We don’t want to take any risks.”
Speaking after the Italian Grand Prix, Red Bull boss Christian Horner also cast doubt on whether Ricciardo would be ready to return for the Qatar Grand Prix on October 9.
He will again be replaced by Liam Lawson at this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix. The 34-year-old will be trackside during the event, but only for “engineering purposes”.
The Red Bull team said Ricciardo will not be doing any media or promotional activities.
Ricciardo last week shared an update on his recovery by posting a photo of his hand as it recovered from the surgery, where he had several screws and a plate inserted.
His photo post from earlier this month was captioned “Relatively unchanged”.
New Zealand youngster Liam Lawson took the place of Ricciardo for the past two races and on both occasions has finished ahead of teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
Tsunoda failed to make it back to the grid for the Italian Grand Prix after his engine blew up while doing the formation lap.
Lawson, who started from 12th on the grid, crossed the line in 11th place just one spot away from securing his first ever Formula 1 points.
For Ricciardo it is a bad time to be off the track with the Red Bull game of musical chairs the talk of the Formula 1 world following reports Sergio Perez is facing the axe.
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