Ricciardo to miss Qatar Grand Prix, Lawson replaces him

Liam Lawson will continue driving for AlphaTauri at this weekend’s F1 Qatar Grand Prix as Daniel Ricciardo continues to recover from the injuries he sustained during a practice crash in Zandvoort.

Ricciardo returned to F1 full-time mid-way through this season as a replacement for the underperforming Nyck de Vries. The eight-time F1 race winner completed the Hungarian and Belgian Grand Prix, but he broke a hand in a crash at the Dutch Grand Prix which would have been his third outing with AlphaTauri this year.

The Australian qualified and finished in 13th position in his first race back with AlphaTauri in Hungary. At the Belgian Grand Prix, Ricciardo qualified 19th for the race after breaching track limits on his final flying lap. He then went on to finish 16th on Sunday.

During the second free practice of the Dutch Grand Prix, Ricciardo broke a metacarpal bone in his hand in seven places, preventing him from competing for the rest of the weekend. Red Bull decided to promote Liam Lawson into the vacant race seat at AlphaTauri.

The New Zealender has completed four grands prix so far, finishing in all races he started in. The 21-year-old racer achieved his best result in Singapore, finishing ninth and scoring two points for his team.

In the meantime, AlphaTauri have already confirmed Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda will be their drivers in 2024, with Lawson set for a reserve driver role for both of Red Bull's teams. It means that Ricciardo is under no pressure to rush back into action and he has decided to sit out another race, but he is expected to return for the United States Grand Prix in Austin on October 20-22.

Commenting on the upcoming weekend in Qatar, Lawson said: "Now we move on to Qatar. I’m not sure how we’ll get on there or how the upgrades will work. I think it’s hard to say because where we struggled in Japan was mainly in the high speed, in Sector 1. We still have more to learn about our new package, and I’m not so sure that Qatar is the type of circuit that will suit our car. Learning takes time, and we’ve got more opportunities in Qatar to try and get the most out of it. However, it’s also a Sprint weekend, so at the same time, that makes it quite tricky, especially in my situation. I’ve never driven here, so going into the sprint weekend will be extra tough.

“I drove the Qatar track in the simulator at the end of last week. It’s very fast, a very high-speed circuit and quite unique, and I’ve not seen many tracks like it, as there’s only one low-speed corner in the whole track. The rest is just fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh gear, so I think it’s going to be exciting to drive. With only one Free Practice session, we drivers will have to know where to improve because it’ll get faster at night when it’s much cooler, and we need to know exactly how to extract everything out of the car. I’m expecting it to be tougher than the races we’ve just done.

“In Japan, the news came public that I’m back to the role of reserve driver next year. Obviously, my goal is to be in Formula 1 full-time, so as much as it’s disappointing, it’s still my goal, and it’s now about trying to make sure that I can make that happen in the future. Right now, I’ve still got this opportunity to keep trying to show something, and I’ll try to make the most of it.

"For now, as long as this lasts, I’ll focus on it, and then once I step back from F1, it’ll be full focus on preparing for the final round of the Super Formula championship at Suzuka on the weekend of the Mexican Grand Prix. It’ll be very different adjusting back to the car, but it’s certainly been useful having driven so many laps at Suzuka throughout the Grand Prix weekend," Lawson concluded.