Piastri and Ricciardo both crash in Dutch GP practice

Ian Chadband | August 26, 2023

Oscar Piastri and Daniel Ricciardo have both suffered crashes during practice at the Dutch Grand Prix, with the Australian pair thankfully able to escape serious injury after both hit the same wall within seconds of each other.

But there remained question marks over Ricciardo’s fitness to compete over the weekend at Zandvoort after he injured his left hand during the incident and had to be treated in hospital.

McLaren rookie Piastri, who has replaced Ricciardo at the British team, prompted the double crash, losing control on the famed banked turn three 10 minutes into the second practice on Friday as his car spun into the padded barriers.

Ricciardo, on the comeback trail with AlphaTauri, had been powering around on the same line and, despite a warning yellow flag, also had to swerve into the wall at the same corner to avoid crashing into the stricken McLaren.

Ricciardo was reported to have been taken to the medical centre for checks and was seen later wearing a sling on his left arm.

With the session red-flagged, both drivers were able to get out of their vehicles uninjured at the scene of the crashes but Ricciardo was unable to extricate himself from the car, using his injured left hand.

Ricciardo cursed as he radioed in to his team, complaining that he had hurt his hand because he hadn’t had chance to release the steering wheel on impact.

Both their cars had suffered enough damage to have to be hauled off the circuit by cranes. 

Piastri apologised to his team as he explained the car was too damaged for him to return to the pits.

The 22-year-old Piastri, who had been a test driver at Alpine last year, has impressed as Australia’s newest F1 star, having agreed to take Ricciardo’s seat at McLaren in controversial circumstances last season in a move which outraged the French team. 

But the 34-year-old Ricciardo has enjoyed an impressive two-race comeback with the Red Bull ‘second team’, AlphaTauri. 

The session resumed 15 minutes after the crash with Piastri’s teammate Lando Norris going on to finish fastest in the afternoon session fractionally ahead of home favourite and runaway championship leader Max Verstappen, who had topped the morning timesheets. 

Norris clocked 1 minute 11.330 seconds around the 4.259km circuit to narrowly beat champion Verstappen by 0.023.