Daniel Ricciardo is sidelined for the Dutch Grand Prix weekend after he suffered an injury during free practice two. The Australian suffered a fracture in his hand after his AlphaTauri crashed into the barrier at turn 3. While AlphaTauri have confirmed that Liam Lawson will replace Ricciardo for the rest of the weekend, the 34-year-old may not take long to return. This is because specialist doctor Xavier Mir will operate on him, as per a report from motorsport-total.com. Dr. Mir is the same doctor who also helped Lance Stroll recover previously.
Stroll surprised everyone at the start of this season when he returned to the grid a month ahead of schedule. Since the Canadian had suffered injuries to both his hands and wrists, several people believed that he would miss at least the first few races of the season.
🚨 | Daniel Ricciardo’s injury will be operated by Doctor Xavier Mir.
He is a specialist known for his successful operations on MotoGP drivers.
Dr. Mir also operated on Lance Stroll after his pre-season incident.
— formularacers (@formularacers_) August 25, 2023
However, to everyone’s surprise, Stroll did not miss a single race. Even though the 24-year-old did not fully heal, he recovered enough to compete at the season opener in Bahrain. Moreover, despite all the pain he was going through, he managed to finish the race in sixth, much to everyone’s surprise.
Daniel Ricciardo suffered a fracture on his left hand
Soon after Daniel Ricciardo crashed, AlphaTauri put out a statement to reveal the extent of the injuries he suffered. Their statement read, “An X-ray confirmed he 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 this weekend“.
A nasty moment for our Aussie pair during FP2
Daniel Ricciardo is being checked at the local hospital after the collision#DutchGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/RXdiSBLbtx
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 25, 2023
This news doesn’t bode well for Ricciardo who has just raced in two weekends on his return to the grid. Hence, he will now hope that Dr. Xavier Mir can work his magic and help him return as quickly as possible.
Dr. Mir received several praises from Lance Stroll previously after he helped the Canadian recover as quickly as possible. After having seen a drastic improvement in his recovery, Stroll had put up a lengthy post to thank his medical team for their fantastic services.
Lance Stroll was grateful to his medical team for helping him recover
Taking to his Instagram handle, Lance Stroll had put up a video of himself undergoing rehab after Doctor Xavier Mir successfully operated on him. In the video, the Canadian showed how he spent the first few days in hospital, and also all the images of the scans he underwent and the fractures he suffered.
After showing the same, the video then moves on to how Dr. Mir helped him with rehab. Along with the video, Stroll also put up a lengthy post to thank Dr. Mir and the rest of his medical team for their services.
View this post on Instagram
The 24-year-old began by giving a special appreciation to Dr. Mir for showing the “urgency” to help him recover as quickly as possible. He then went on to thank the rest of his “incredible” medical team for devising a plan that helped him push through the pain and compete at the season opener in Bahrain.
