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Daniel Ricciardo will miss next weekend’s Italian Grand Prix after undergoing surgery to repair a multiple break of a bone in his left hand.
Ricciardo sustained the injury following a crash in the second practice session on Friday ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.
The 34-year-old Australian, in the third outing of his F1 comeback with AlphaTauri after being promoted into the seat from his third driver role with Red Bull following the sacking of Nyck de Vries, was forced into a barrier after opting to avoid the stricken McLaren of Oscar Piastri.
Piastri had suffered his own incident just moments earlier when he lost control of his MCL60 on the approach to the banked Turn 3, going on to hit a barrier that spun his car around and left him on the racing line.
With Ricciardo approaching soon after, his shunt with the same barrier just 10 metres earlier, resulted in the steering wheel impacting upon the back of his left hand.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has confirmed an operation was performed on Sunday morning at a hospital in Barcelona.
Speedcafe has since seen the x-ray of Ricciardo’s repaired hand, with the screws inserted into the metacarpal of his little finger.
Asked by Speedcafe for an update on Ricciardo, speaking to media following Max Verstappen’s record-equalling victory in his home race, Horner said: “He had an operation earlier today. He’s had several screws and a plate fitted.
“It went well, it was successful. The bone was broken in multiple places but it was a fairly straightforward procedure.
“So now it’s all about recovery. For a normal human being, that would be a couple of months. For a grand prix driver, it’s often much shorter.”
Suggested to Horner that Ricciardo would definitely miss Italy, he replied: “We need to see how that recovery process goes but certainly not Italy.”
It remains to be seen whether Ricciardo can stage a quick enough recovery to return for the Far East double-header in Singapore and Japan on September 17 and 24.
In an Instagram post, Ricciardo posted a picture of himself after the surgery, with a plaster cast around his left hand and wearing a sling.
In a message, Ricciardo said: “Hey everyone. Had surgery this morning, got my first bit of metal work so that’s pretty cool. Big thanks to everyone who reached out and kept my spirits up. This ain’t a setback, just all part of the comeback.”
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