Daniel Ricciardo is back

Daniel Ricciardo is back.

His dramatic return to the grid with AlphaTauri, in place of Nyck de Vries, was cut short by an injury suffered during practice at the Dutch Grand Prix. But Ricciardo is returning to the grid — and the United States — for this weekend’s United States Grand Prix.

And to say that Ricciardo is excited would be an understatement.

“It’s good to be back,” exclaimed the driver in AlphaTauri’s media preview of the weekend.

“My hand is much better, and the simulator was a useful way of assessing it. I tried it out in the week before Qatar, but I didn’t feel it was at full potential, so I spent the rest of that week in the UK, spending more time in the sim, and got to a point where I felt ready to go,” added Ricciardo. “My overall fitness is fine as I kept training as much as I could, although I obviously couldn’t do much with my left hand or arm for a while.”

Ricciardo did admit to some “frustration” at being sidelined with the injury, which required surgery on his left hand.

“It was definitely frustrating watching the past few races, especially as I’d gotten myself to a place where I was so ready to go again and race, and then I did two events and had to hit “Pause” again, but actually, the time without racing went quite quickly,‘ admitted Ricciardo.

As for what to expect on the track, Ricciardo outlined that AlphaTauri has made some upgrades to the AT04 during his absence. He has only been able to experience those in the simulator, and will not get the full feel for the changes until he is on the track in Austin.

“The current car has moved on a bit since I last drove it, but the sim was useful to get an idea of what the changes and updates have delivered. I felt a little bit of their effect, but it’s one of those things I think, once I get on track, I’ll feel them to their full effect,” said Ricciardo. “I was there in Singapore when they tried it the first time, and it was interesting to hear the feedback and comments, which were mostly positive. So, I’m excited to see what it’s like first-hand.”

However, he will not have much time to get acclimated. This United States Grand Prix is an F1 Sprint, meaning Ricciardo will have just one hour of practice on Friday ahead of qualifying for the main event.