The eight-time F1 race winner will return to the cockpit in this weekend’s United States Grand Prix after a five-round spell on the side-lines following his free practice crash at Zandvoort in late August.
Ricciardo was diagnosed with a broken metacarpal in his left hand.
He flew to Barcelona for immediate surgery with MotoGP injury specialist Doctor Xavier Mir, who also helped Lance Stroll’s return after the Aston Martin driver broke bones in both his wrists during a cycling incident prior to pre-season testing.
A comeback for the Qatar GP for Ricciardo had been anticipated by the Red Bull stable but that has been ultimately delayed by a fortnight, with his operation revealing the injury to be worse than first thought.
Assessing his recovery, Ricciardo explained: “ Well, I would say, tougher than I thought. But I'm probably a bit of a wuss as well. So maybe not tougher than I thought!
“But I think it was really just when the accident happened, and we were aware of what bone broke, they seemed fairly OK with that bone, in terms of ‘Oh yeah, it's a relatively easy one to fix’.
“But then, when we got the surgery done in Spain, we got further checks done and it was just the break was a lot worse than it first seemed.
“So, I think that's what took a lot longer for the recovery, and probably made it a little more painful for myself.”
Source: Autosport