Daniel Ricciardo has taken to Instagram to show off his new scar, following his successful surgery on his left hand in Barcelona.
The AlphaTauri driver went to Barcelona to visit Dr. Javier Mir, who conducted the operation on his fractured metacarpal.
Ricciardo fractured his left hand after crashing during Free Practice 2 at the Dutch Grand Prix, after putting his car into a barrier on the exit of Turn 3 to avoid directly hitting Oscar Piastri.
Piastri had crashed on the racing line ahead of Ricciardo, leaving with no choice but to crash into the barrier himself to avoid driving directly into his fellow Australian.
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He was soon seen with a cast on and was quickly ruled out of the remainder of the weekend, with Red Bull reserve Liam Lawson having replaced Ricciardo ever since.
Ricciardo’s fracture turned out to be complicated, but Dr. Mir – who also operated on Lance Stroll during pre-season – did an excellent job.
The 34-year-old now has a sizeable scar to remember his accident and posted a photo of it on Instagram with the caption: “Relatively unchanged.”
The fan favourite has started physical training again but will almost certainly not be fit in time for the upcoming Singapore Grand Prix, where Lawson will again take his place.
The Japanese Grand Prix is also believed to be a huge doubt for Ricciardo, with the Qatar Grand Prix in October looking like the destination where he’ll at least attempt a return to the cockpit.
“I think certainly Singapore, I don’t think there’s any chance he’ll be ready for that,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner told media, including PlanetF1.com, at Monza.
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“And I think it will be optimistic for Japan, but I think his recovery is going well.
“He’s got mobility of the hand, he’s into rehabilitation now, but we’ve seen with motorcyclists, rushing comebacks can sometimes do more damage.
“So we just want to make sure he’s fully fit before he gets back in the car. I should think he’s pretty keen to be in the car in Suzuka.
“We just take it on a day-by-day basis and see how the recovery and nature takes its course.”