The Australian returned to F1 race action from the Hungarian Grand Prix in July, replacing the ousted Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri, having lost his McLaren drive to Oscar Piastri at the end of 2022.
Beginning his third weekend with the Red Bull-owned squad at Zandvoort, Ricciardo’s Friday was prematurely halted when he crashed just under 20 minutes into FP2.
The eight-time grand prix winner appeared to have been caught out by the crash for McLaren’s Piastri ahead of him at Turn 3 and speared into the outside barrier.
Ricciardo initially complained on the radio to his team that he had hurt his left hand and kept it close to his chest as he gingerly extracted himself from his stricken AlphaTauri.
While little else is known about Ricciardo’s condition at this stage, the FIA has confirmed to the media that he has been taken to hospital for precautionary checks.
“We can confirm that Daniel Ricciardo has been transferred to the local hospital for further checks following his crash in FP2,” a brief statement read.
Ricciardo ended FP2 last on the timesheets having been unable to complete the session, which was topped by the sister McLaren of Lando Norris.
In this morning’s opening hour-long session, Ricciardo was 13th.
Should Ricciardo be unable to continue the remainder of the Dutch GP weekend, Red Bull junior Liam Lawson is on-site at Zandvoort.
Third in last year’s Formula 2 standings, Lawson is now racing in Super Formula in Japan, where he currently sits second in the championship with three wins for Team Mugen.
But given Lawson’s lack of F1 experience, having had no FP1 outings in 2023 so far, AlphaTauri could also call on De Vries to make an unlikely return to action at his home event.
The Dutchman – who is still officially contracted to Red Bull – is present at Zandvoort and could also be drafted in to replace Ricciardo.
De Vries scored no points in a difficult 10-race stint for AlphaTauri prior to his sacking, achieving a best result of 12th in Monaco back in May.
Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko refused to be drawn into speculation on who could replace Ricciardo should he be ruled unfit when pressed on the matter by Viaplay in the Netherlands.
"We don't know yet, but he is... very painful, his hand, and wrist obviously got some damage but we have to wait until we get the exact diagnosis,” he said of Ricciardo’s condition.
"It's a new situation. First, we wait until we know exactly if Ricciardo can drive or not and then we will start the discussion on what we are going to do."
Ricciardo's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda added: "Hopefully he's OK. He was doing well in FP2. We have to pray. Hopefully, he's in OK shape, at least. Obviously, his health is the priority."
UPDATE
Ricciardo has since been ruled out of the Dutch GP with a broken wrist and will be replaced by Red Bull junior Liam Lawson, who will make his F1 debut.
Additional reporting by Matt Kew
