A kép forrása: Racingline
P1racenews AI automatikus összefoglalója:
Ricciardo visszatérése tovább csúszhat a vártnál
Daniel Ricciardo, who is recovering from a wrist injury, has already missed two races, and according to Christian Horner, the team principal of Red Bull, the Australian will be able to get back in the car later than initially estimated. They are not rushing his recovery due to the good performance of his substitute and the cautionary examples from MotoGP. Since his injury, Ricciardo has only been able to compete in two races, after being given the opportunity to return to the field during the season with AlphaTauri, but his wrist injury in the second practice session in Zandvoort brought another twist to Red Bull’s complicated driver situation. The team has already placed its fourth driver in the car this year, Liam Lawson, and although they would have liked to get the New Zealander on the grid within a short period of time as the next driver in their program, Red Bull’s position is clear that Ricciardo will get his seat back once he recovers from the injury. It initially seemed that he would definitely have to miss the races in Zandvoort and Monza, and the Singapore Grand Prix, which is scheduled for three weeks later, could be the first one that he could participate in after recovering from his injury. However, this track, which presents the season’s greatest physical challenge, is far from ideal terrain for a comeback from an injury, and Christian Horner is well aware of this. „There is no chance that he will be ready for Singapore, and Japan is an optimistic estimate. But his recovery is progressing well, he can move his hand and has started rehabilitation,” said Horner, as quoted by The Race. Horner, who might employ Ricciardo again at the Red Bull main team in the future, cites several recent MotoGP cases to illustrate why it is not worth rushing the driver’s return to racing. „We have seen examples of this with motorcycle riders, that if someone rushes their return, they can easily do even more damage to themselves,” he said, probably referring to Marc Marquez, who struggled with a wrist injury for three years. „We just want to make sure that he fully recovers before getting back in the car.” AlphaTauri also does not urgency the swap of their drivers, as Lawson, who was thrown into the deep end in Zandvoort, is doing very well so far, finishing 11th in Monza, which is a better result than Yuki Tsunoda’s two 10th-place finishes at the team this year. Furthermore, Lawson has almost a completely free schedule for the remainder of the year, as he only has one round left in his current series, the Super Formula, which takes place in Suzuka on the last weekend of October. Lawson is currently in second place in the championship standings and can win the title, and since he has already had a race weekend at the Japanese F1 circuit this year, he is familiar with the track as well. „I assume he would be happy to get in the car in Suzuka. But for now, we are taking it day by day, monitoring the progress of his recovery,” added Horner, who predicts that the earliest realistic time to put Ricciardo back in the car would be after the Japanese Grand Prix, at the Qatar Grand Prix on October 8. This would give him six weeks to recover and six races left in the season.
Forrás: RacingLine
