F1 News: Daniel Ricciardo Might Not Return Anytime Soon - "No Rush"

There's no hurry to put Daniel Ricciardo back on the track.

Despite reports that Daniel Ricciardo would be back in his AlphaTauri car as early as the Qatar Grand Prix in early October, AlphaTauri head of trackside engineering Jonathan Eddolls clarified that the Australian driver might not return anytime soon. 

His absence could extend until the United States Grand Prix toward the end of October. However, it is less likely that his time away from the sport would impact AlphaTauri's driver lineup for 2024, despite not having raced a single Grand Prix since the end of July. 

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After racing two Grand Prix this year, Ricciardo retired from racing temporarily due to an injury to his left metacarpal during the Dutch GP practice. Eddolls says that the AlphaTauri driver's comeback is still quite far away. 

Though he was present in Singapore last weekend to assist the team's engineering processes, his recovery has not been quick enough to allow him to race in Japan or Qatar. Neither Red Bull nor Ricciardo wants to hurry with his return from therapy. Before he gets back in the AT04, a few simulator runs will be done to test his recovery.

 Eddolls told The Race:

“The recovery is going well.

"We've got some simulator work planned before a return.

"From our side and his side, there's no rush to get him back too early.

"The worst thing would be to come back before it is properly healed and cause any issues."

AlphaTauri and Red Bull want to avoid the scene where Ricciardo enters free practice, only to retire again at the end of the session. In such a scenario, they would have to bring back Liam Lawson once again. Consequently, the 34-year-old will complete his simulator session by the start of the Qatar week to gauge the extent of his recovery. Eddolls added:

“The simulator’s a very good representation of the car, all of the loads, etc.

"I think the final decision is more than likely going to come from him rather than from us.

"He will know better than anyone how's the pain, how's the recovery?

"We’re not putting him under pressure to come back. We've got three good drivers at the moment so there's no big rush, the focus is on making a full recovery so that when he comes back, it’s not even talked about.”

It might be certain that Ricciardo's contract extension is coming soon, which could be one of the reasons why he isn't rushing back to race, though Lawson might have made it seem like the race for the 2024 driver is still on. Yuki Tsunoda on the other hand is also expecting his contract extension to materialise anytime, perhaps during the Japanese Grand Prix weekend.