The FIA has confirmed that Daniel Ricciardo has been sent to a local hospital after injuring his hand in an incident that took place early in second practice for the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.
The referral is said to be for precautionary checks only, after television pictures showed that Ricciardo was still holding the steering wheel of his AlphaTauri as it made hard contact with the barriers at the outside of turn 3.
“We can confirm that Daniel Ricciardo has been transferred to the local hospital for further checks following his crash in FP2,” a brief statement reported.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri lost control on his approach the the banked Turn 3 corner and planted his car in the Tecpro barrier, an impact that damaged the Aussie's front wing and suspension.
Arriving on the scene of the crash shortly after, Ricciardo was caught out by the McLaren's presence and and ran straight on into the barrier as well, which triggered an immediate red flag to the session while the two crumpled cars were craned away, debris swept up and the barriers repaired.
Ricciardo initially complained on the team radio that he had hurt his left hand. While he was able to extricate himself from the cockpit after the accident, he kept it close to his chest and pointed to it while conversing with marshals.
“I just heard now, I think he’s taken now to the hospital,” said Ricciardo's team mate Yuki Tsunoda when interviewed by the media in the paddock after the end of practice. “I didn’t see
"I was not really looking properly at the onboard, what happened there, so to be honest I didn’t know even like it was that big," he continued. I hope he’s okay. Especially he was doing well in FP2, the beginning onwards. We have to pray.
"Hopefully he’s in okay shape, at least, and we’ll see how it goes. Obviously his safety and health is the priority.”
The early exit for the pair meant that Piastri and Ricciardo were the slowest drivers on the timesheets at the end of the session. However their respective team mates did well, meaning all is not lost for the rest of the weekend.
Piastri's partner Lando Norris topped the session by 0.023s from Max Verstappen, while Yuki Tsunoda was fifth fastest for AlphaTauri just 0.390s off the top time when the chequered flag came out.
If Ricciardo is unable to take part in the remaining sessions this week, then AlphaTauri could call up reserve driver Liam Lawson to make his F1 debut this weekend.
Nyck de Vries - who was replaced by Ricciardo prior to the Hungarian Grand Prix - also remains under contract with parent body Red Bull. A substitution can take place at any point up to the start of the qualifying session on Saturday afternoon.
"We don't know exactly what it is yet, but he was in a lot of pain," Red Bull motorsports consultant Dr Helmut Marko told streaming service Viaplay. "His wrist has suffered damage, but we have to wait for a diagnosis. He's in the hospital.
“This is a new situation for us," he replied when asked what the team would do if the Australian was too injured to drive tomorrow. "We first wait to see how Ricciardo is doing and whether he can drive or not. Then we discuss it [who gets in the car]."
“I just went in a little bit hot," Piastri said of his part in the accident. "Tried to turn in a bit aggressively and unfortunately found the wall, so it’s a shame.
"It’s just unfortunate to give the guys a massive load of work for the night, but [we’ll] try and bounce back tomorrow and have a good day," he continued. “I guess it [a crash] was going to happen at some stage.
"Of course, you never want it to, but yeah, just pushing a little bit too hard and around here, especially in that corner, you pay a big consequence if you overdo it a little bit."
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