Daniel Ricciardo breaks hand in crash, is out for Dutch Grand Prix

AlphaTauri driver Daniel Ricciardo sustained a broken hand in Friday’s practice and will miss this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko confirmed to Motorsport.com.

Marko said Red Bull reserve driver Liam Lawson will make his F1 debut in place of Ricciardo.

“He’s broken something in his hand, so he won’t race. Lawson will drive,” Marko said. “It’s difficult for him. It’s a shame because the car is good here.”

Ricciardo crashed at Turn 3 at Zandvoort after McLaren’s Oscar Piastri spun out in front of him. Piastri hit the tire wall early on at the banked turn and Ricciardo, with nowhere else to go, followed him into the barriers and red flags were waved.The eight-time Formula One winner took the glove off his left hand and held it close to his body as he climbed out of his car.

“We can confirm that Daniel Ricciardo has been transferred to the local hospital for further checks following his crash in FP2,” the FIA said in a statement.

Ricciardo, a 34-year-old Australian, recently had replaced Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri and returned to action at the Hungarian Grand Prix last month.

McLaren’s Lando Norris denied home hero Max Verstappen a perfect Friday by keeping the dominant Red Bull driver off the top of the timesheets in second practice for the Dutch Grand Prix.

Verstappen had set the pace in the opening session when he lapped Zandvoort’s seaside circuit, the grandstands packed with his orange-clad fans, with a best time of one minute 11.852 seconds.

Norris was fastest overall, however, with a lap of 1:11.330 in the late afternoon, 0.023 quicker than the double Formula One world champion.

Verstappen is chasing a ninth win in a row on Sunday to equal now-retired Sebastian Vettel’s decade-old record.

The 25-year-old leads Mexican teammate Sergio Perez by 125 points after 12 of 22 races.

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was second quickest in session one, 0.278 slower than Verstappen, with Mercedes seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton third.

Perez was fourth on those timesheets, 0.471 slower than his team mate, with Williams’ Alex Albon fifth and Norris sixth.

Albon was third in session two with Hamilton fourth and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda fifth with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly sixth and Perez seventh.

Dominant Red Bull have won every race this season, and the last 13 in total, while Verstappen is chasing his third successive Dutch Grand Prix win.

Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg spun off into the gravel, nudging the tire wall with his front wing, and brought out red flags in the first session.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, who skipped media duties on Thursday due to an infection, failed to set a lap time in the first session after reporting a ‘funny noise’.

The team investigated a suspected power unit issue and Stroll returned to set the eighth best time in session two.

Israeli Robert Shwartzman replaced Spaniard Carlos Sainz at Ferrari for the opening session, in line with regulations requiring teams to run young drivers during the season, and was 19th and 2.951 off the pace on medium tyres.

Sainz was only 16th in session two with teammate Charles Leclerc 11th.