Ricciardo present in Singapore with AlphaTauri but won't race
Daniel Ricciardo has traveled to Singapore for next weekend's round of racing, but the AlphaTauri charger won't be fit to drive as he continues to recover from a broken hand.
Ricciardo will attend the event at Marina Bay "for engineering purposes" according to AlphaTauri while Liam Lawson will continue to substitute for the Aussie.
Ricciardo sustained a fractured metacarpal when he crashed in FP2 at Zandvoort last month, which ruled him out of the Dutch Grand Prix.
The 34-year-old underwent surgery for his left hand in Barcelona 48 hours after his mishap and is now in his rehabilitation phase.
Although Ricciardo will embed with AlphaTauri in Singapore, the team did not specify whether the Aussie could be fit to race in Japan next week.
But in Italy two weeks ago, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner alluded to Qatar as a more probable venue for Ricciardo's return.
In the interim, Lawson - who finished a creditable 11th am Monza last time out - will take part next weekend on the hot and humid streets of Singapore in his third F1 race with AlphaTauri.
In his team's race weekend preview, the Kiwi said that his comfort level and knowledge are gradually improving with each passing session.
"When you get more comfortable in these kinds of cars, it can make quite a big difference," he said.
"Having done two races now, I’m also getting a better understanding of the difference between the tyre compounds, which is so important.
©AlphaTauri
"I’d say Monza was pretty successful, even if it was disappointing to finish so close to the points.
"I think if I had had a better start, perhaps things could have been different, but it’s something that I will learn from, and I’m just excited moving forward."
On a track that takes no prisoners, and which is physically challenging, Lawson knows that he will have his work cut out for him next weekend. But the 21-year-old is a big fan of street circuits.
"I know this is a very tough race physically, and when you get thrown into F1 in this situation, even with all the training in the world, it’s still such a tough adjustment," he added.
"It’s going to be extremely difficult, but we’ve been training for it and doing everything we can to prepare for that.
"Last year, I experienced the night-time routine [as Red Bull’s reserve]. It’s cool, to be honest, to go through a weekend like that. It’s a bit different to normal.
"Obviously, the biggest adjustment will be getting used to the track, as I’ve only driven it on the sim, and street circuits are probably the hardest to replicate.
"They take confidence, and when you’re new to the track, or even my situation being new to Formula 1, having that confidence early in the weekend is pretty tricky.
"I’ll be aiming to build up as many laps as we can, a bit like Monza, to be honest. That was the target there, and it will be a similar sort of thing.
"Generally, I like street circuits, for example, I absolutely love Monaco, so I’m expecting to enjoy Singapore too."
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