Daniel Ricciardo is expected to make his F1 return at the Qatar GP

Daniel Ricciardo has been out of F1 action since the Dutch GP weekend.

Daniel Ricciardo is expected to make his F1 return at the Qatar GP

Daniel Ricciardo (Via IMAGO)

Daniel Ricciardo, the former 8-time Grand Prix winner, has been on the sidelines since his crash at the Zandvoort F1 circuit. He has been on the road to recovery since then, and ahead of the Japanese GP, it has been made known that Ricciardo could make a racing return for AlphaTauri during next month’s Qatar GP.

Daniel Ricciardo injured one of his wrists during the Free Practice 2 session of the Dutch GP and has recently had surgery. He was on the AlphaTauri pit wall in Singapore, and Peter Bayer, the CEO of the Italian team, has made it known that he will not be on the pit wall in Suzuka while indicating he could be back in the AT04 by the Qatar weekend.

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While sharing thoughts on the recovery cycle of the honey badger, Bayer told Soymotor, “Daniel is flying to Australia now for physiotherapy and will support us morally, but he will not be there (at Suzuka).” Looking at the comments, it is quite clear that Ricciardo’s doing everything he can to get back to racing at the earliest.

Moreover, with the 34-year-old being out of contention to at least make a pit wall appearance in Suzuka, everything is pointing to the one thing, and that being Ricciardo potentially making a comeback during the Qatar GP weekend. Qatar weekend will officially get underway from 6th October onwards.

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Liam Lawson has done a brilliant job in Daniel Ricciardo’s absence

While Daniel Ricciardo is pushing himself to make a return as soon as possible, stand-in driver Liam Lawson has done very well in the opportunities he has had so far. The New Zealander scored his first-ever points at the pinnacle of motor racing during last weekend’s Singapore GP.

Liam Lawson (Credits: Planet F1)
Liam Lawson (Credits: Planet F1)

Lawson was asked to shed light on his AlphaTauri status in Singapore, and while talking about the same, he said, “I don’t know how long I’ll be here, so I’ll focus on doing as much as I can when I’m in the car. I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for a long time and I finally got it, so I’ll try to make the most of it.”

Liam Lawson has done a terrific job in Daniel Ricciardo’s absence, but the latter is itching to go racing as soon as possible. The Australian looked good in the few outings before his Zandvoort crash, and considering everything, there would be a lot of limelight around him during the Qatar weekend.

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