Australia’s boyfriend, Daniel Ricciardo, will miss the Dutch Grand Prix after injuring the part of his body most necessary for racing — his hand.
After being called back up to resume his spot as team AlphaTauri’s number one just last month, our boy will now have to rest and recuperate.
But that’s not even the worst part. The incident happened after FELLOW AUSSIE and McLaren driver Oscar Piastri lost his line at turn three and accidentally drove into the barrier during a practice run.
FRIENDLY FIRE!!!
“It’s really unfortunate and frustrating, but I’ll try to recover as quickly as I can,” Ricciardo said per Nine.
”I wish the team well, and I’m sorry for the change in plans again.”
Ricciardo, who was a few seconds behind Piastri, proceeded to drive into the same barrier.
The double crash was described by the commentary team as “truly, truly bizarre”.
“I wonder if Ricciardo’s tried to take the line and found that’s exactly where Piastri is, and had to take avoiding action,” the Fox Sports team theorised.
If you take a look at the footage, you can totally see what they mean.
Piastri’s vehicle is sprawled across the track and you can only imagine the sort of damage Ricciardo would’ve done to both of them had he ploughed straight into him at maximum velocity.
“An X-ray confirmed Daniel sustained a break to a metacarpal on his left hand, and this injury will not allow him to continue his duties, so he will be replaced by the team’s reserve driver Liam Lawson for the remainder of the #DutchGP weekend,” his team wrote on Twitter (now X).
Ricciardo was seen back at the track after paying a visit to the hospital to get his arm bandaged.
“I just went in a little bit hot, tried to turn in a bit aggressively and unfortunately found the wall,” Piastri said after the race.
Up until this point, the 22-year-old had never been involved in a major F1 crash.
“I guess it was gonna happen at some stage.
“Of course, you never want it to, but I was just pushing a little bit too hard and, around here, especially in that corner, you pay a big consequence.”
GET WELL SOON DANNY!
Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images
