Ricciardo out of F1 Dutch GP with injured hand, Lawson to sub

Ricciardo was caught up in an accident of fellow Australian Oscar Piastri in the early stages of Friday's second practice session.

Moments after Piastri had crashed his McLaren in Zandvoort's banked Turn 3, Ricciardo arrived at the scene and also hit the outside barriers while taking avoiding action.

Ricciardo's steering wheel snapped violently upon impacting the wall, with the 34-year-old complaining on the team radio about wrist pain.

Ricciardo was soon taken to a nearby hospital in Haarlem for X-rays, spotted with his left arm in a sling.

Later on Friday evening, AlphaTauri confirmed that Ricciardo had sustained a broken left hand, taking him out of action for the remainder of the Dutch GP weekend.

The team said the Australian had broken a metacarpal on his left hand.

Red Bull junior Lawson, who was on standby at Zandvoort as the designated reserve driver for both Red Bull teams, will replace Ricciardo from Saturday's FP3 session onwards.

Liam Lawson, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

"He's broken something in his hand, so he won't race," Helmut Marko told Motorsport.com.

"Lawson will drive. It's difficult for him. It's a shame because the car is good here."

Lawson currently sits second in Japan's Super Formula championship with three wins, after finishing third in last year's Formula 2 season.

He is set for his first outing in a 2023 F1 car on Saturday, having not yet completed any rookie FP1 running for either Red Bull or AlphaTauri this year.

Lawson had also been mooted as a contender to replace Nyck de Vries from Hungary onwards, but Red Bull instead handed the seat to Ricciardo to inject more experience into the struggling AlphaTauri line-up.

Marko also added that the ousted De Vries' was not considered for a return on home soil.