Daniel Ricciardo is expected to make his comeback this weekend in Austin, Texas after suffering a hand fracture that kept him out of action for the previous five race events.
Daniel Ricciardo was allowed to get back into the Formula 1 driver’s seat as he drove a Red Bull car in front of 30,000 spectators in Nashville, in preparation for his anticipated comeback to racing at the United States Grand Prix in Austin.
Ricciardo got the nod from AlphaTauri in July to replace Nyck de Vries after the Australian started the season as Red Bull’s third driver. He went on to race in the Hungarian and Belgian rounds despite breaking his hand while practicing for the Dutch GP.
While Ricciardo continued to recover from surgery over the course of the next four race weekends, Liam Lawson went on to race for AlphaTauri in place of the injured driver. The eight-time race winner is expected to resume racing in the United States Grand Prix, which is the next event on the calendar.
Additionally, Ricciardo recently acknowledged his recovery ahead of his comeback in a video that Red Bull shared on social media.
The 34-year-old also entertained a crowd of 30,000 spectators as he raced through the streets of Nashville, Tennessee’s Lower Broadway neighborhood in the Red Bull RB7.
Since injuring his wrist in late August, this was the first time Ricciardo had been spotted behind the wheel of an F1 car. The Australian put on an amazing performance, thrilling spectators through several demo runs and donuts.
In an interview with Racetrackmasters.com, Ricciardo described the experience as an exciting one as he enjoyed putting on a show for the spectators.
“Driving here in Nashville on Broadway was pretty wild,” Ricciardo said. “Broadway is normally wild in itself but especially today! It was cool to put on a show for everyone.”
It has already been confirmed that Ricciardo will remain with the team next season alongside Yuki Tsunoda.
“Next year, the technical regulations remain largely unchanged and it was therefore logical to go for continuity in our driver line-up too,” team principal Franz Tost said.
“I am very pleased with the development that Yuki has shown over the last two and a half years with our team and with Daniel’s great race-winning experience we will have one of the most competitive driver pairings on the grid in 2024.”
