Update on Ricciardo's return: 'Final decision likely to come from him'
General
AlphaTauri's head of trackside engineering, Jonathan Eddolls, has spoken about Daniel Ricciardo's recovery from his injury during Friday's press conference at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Ricciardo is still recovering from a broken bone in his hand, which he sustained at the Dutch Grand Prix, which caused him to miss both the Italian and Singapore Grands Prix.
AlphaTauri say he is 'going through that recovery phase'
Eddolls was asked about Ricciardo's recovery and how soon we'd see the Australian back in action, but there is no rush to get the Honey Badger back behind the wheel. "We all saw him in Singapore," said Eddolls. "He's still going through that recovery phase. I'd say we're still talking a while away [yet], so we wouldn't want to put a target on it.
"The recovery is going well. We've got some simulator work planned before a return. And I think from our side and his side, there's no rush to get him back too early. The worst thing would be to come back and cause [more] issues."
'Simulator work' planned to prepare Ricciardo for return
AlphaTauri have plans that will help Ricciardo recover from his hand injury, and Eddolls outlined this plan to bring the Australian back to Grand Prix racing. "It's like a fitness test," Eddolls explained. "He'll jump in the simulator, which is a very good representation of the car, all of the loads, etc."
"I think the final decision is going to come from him rather than from us. He will know better than anyone how the pain is and how the recovery is. So, as I said, we're not putting him under pressure to come back. We've got a pool of three good drivers at the moment. There's no big rush. The focus is on him making a full recovery so that when he comes back, it's not a point that's even talked about."
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