Lawson to race for AlphaTauri until Ricciardo returns

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: August 29, 2023

Liam Lawson will continue to occupy a seat at AlphaTauri at Monza this weekend, plus the future until Daniel Ricciardo is ready to race.

Just one day after the Dutch Grand Prix, AlphaTauri has confirmed the Kiwi will get a second start at the team’s home race in Italy having impressed on debut at short notice.

After Ricciardo broke his hand by crashing at the fast Hugenholtzbocht hairpin in second practice, Lawson was called up to complete the rest of the weekend.

In a race full of rain, incidents, Safety Cars and even a red flag, Lawson crossed the line in 13th, two spots ahead of teammate Yuki Tsunoda.

Meanwhile, Ricciardo had surgery on race day where “metal work” was used to help him recover from his broken metacarpal.

Daniel Ricciardo post hand surgery on Sunday.

And this has now been confirmed by AlphaTauri with Lawson set for a second start in as many weeks in car #40.

“We are delighted that Daniel’s surgery went well and that he is now on the road to recovery,” the Italian team said in a statement.

Speaking after the Dutch Grand Prix Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was non committal on Ricciardo’s time on the sidelines, but said the Aussie had “successful” surgery.

“He had an operation earlier today, he’s had several screws and a plate fitted to his metacarpal, it went well, it was successful,” said Horner.

“For a normal human being that would be a couple of months, for a Grand Prix driver it’s often much shorter.”

Lawson will enjoy his first full Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend at Monza from September 1-3.

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