Daniel Ricciardo is set to return to the Formula 1 grid at this weekend’s United States Grand Prix after almost two months of recuperation for his broken hand.
Ricciardo has been sidelined since August’s Dutch Grand Prix when a crash during practice broke the fifth metacarpal bone in his left hand in seven places.
He underwent surgery that week and has been recovering ever since, with New Zealander Liam Lawson taking his place at the subsequent five grands prix.
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Eight-time race winner Ricciardo had tentatively set the Qatar Grand Prix as his comeback race, but a simulator session in the preceding week found his hand hadn’t yet fully healed.
With a 2024 AlphaTauri contract already signed, there was no rush for Ricciardo to return prematurely, delaying his comeback by another fortnight.
But a subsequent simulator session and preparation for a Red Bull demonstration event in Nashville at the weekend have been enough to give the West Australian the green light to compete this weekend in Texas.
“Little update: simulator’s been going well, hand is feeling good to drive,” Ricciardo said on a video on Red Bull Racing’s social media channels. “Austin — everyone knows I love Austin. I wouldn’t miss that one for the world.
“See y’all in Austin.”
The United States Grand Prix is the first of an Americas triple-header, with the sport travelling from Austin to Mexico City to São Paulo in three successive weeks before one weekend off. The season then ends with a double-header in Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi.
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Ricciardo has competed at just two full weekends so far this year, having taken up the role of Red Bull Racing reserve driver for the year before being called up to replace the axed Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri.
He returned to the grid at the Hungarian Grand Prix to great fanfare and with an impressive result, qualifying and finishing ahead of teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
However, his follow-up performance in Belgium was more difficult. He qualified second-last after having a more competitive lap time deleted for track limits and finished an underwhelming 16th in the grand prix on an afternoon Tsunoda scored points.
Points have been difficult to come by for AlphaTauri this season, though stand-in Lawson scored the team’s best finish of the year with ninth in Singapore last month.
The car was heavily upgraded for that race, and the team is optimistic it can be in regular points contention for the rest of the season.
AlphaTauri will be armed with another major upgrade this weekend, with a new floor set to be trialled at the Circuit of the Americas.
“There is still a lot of performance to find on those cars on the floor area,” head of vehicle performance Guilherme Dezoteux said, per RaceFans. “We are manufacturing the floors for Austin hoping that’s going to be another step in the same direction.”
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Dezoteux said he was optimistic the team was back on track after its underwhelming start to the season, with recent upgrades delivering performance boosts in line with factory expectations.
“It’s fair to say that since Silverstone the updates have delivered, and that’s a very positive sign for our aerodynamic department, because the correlation is a difficult exercise,” he said.
“When you start delivering it means that the entire chain from analysing the car data, looking at the correlation to the wind tunnel and CFD and developing the aero surface is working.”
Ricciardo’s comeback will end Liam Lawson’s extended cameo as substitute driver, though his pathway back onto the grid remains unclear.
Speaking to Grid Walk, the unexpected Kiwi rookie said a return to reserve duties was on the cards next year with a view to a potential full-time AlphaTauri drive in 2025.
“Two months ago I was definitely not being heavily considered for Formula 1 and almost, to be honest, felt like it was starting to slip away a little bit,” he said. “With this opportunity, that’s really helped that, and at least maybe there’s an opportunity in the future.
“Right now nothing is confirmed for me. It’s going into next year as a reserve — at the moment that’s all it is.
“Until I have a contract in my hand that [says] I’m a driver, then I think I’ll be satisfied. Obviously right now I don’t have that.”