Ricciardo will not “shy away” from his feelings for Zandvoort after his injury

Daniel Ricciardo admits that he was “thinking about the injury” he sustained at Zandvoort last season ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix.

This resulted in the 35-year-old missing the remainder of the round in the Netherlands and the four rounds that followed. His place was taken by Liam Lawson.

The Australian driver was taking part in only his third race after taking over the AlphaTauri seat from Nyck de Vries when he broke his left hand in the second practice session while attempting to avoid the McLaren of Oscar Piastri at Turn 3.

His compatriot, who replaced him at the Woking team, has himself recently recovered from a fractured rib after breaking it during the summer triple-header.

However, Ricciardo is determined not to let last year's incident affect his weekend and says he will take a moment to reflect before moving on with the task at hand.

“I've thought about it,” the RB driver admitted to the media, including RacingNews365.

“I won't shy away from that. But I'll get in the car, greet Turn 3, say a little hello and carry on.”

In preparation for the race at Zandvoort, Ricciardo spent some time in the simulator to re-familiarise himself with the circuit, which he said helped him to familiarise himself with the situation when he returned to the scene of the accident.

As he approached Turn 3, Piastri spun ahead of him on the banked corner. Ricciardo's evasive manoeuvre meant he was unable to remove his hands from the steering wheel in time, with his left hand getting caught on the side of the cockpit.

However, he was quick to stress that he was not “afraid” of driving on the track and that he would not “exaggerate” the accident.

“I was in the simulator a few days ago and honestly, just driving around, I thought, 'All right.' I felt better,” he explained.

“So, I'm not going to overstate it like it's some demons and I'm just like, 'Oh my God, I'm scared to drive here.' Not at all.”

“But I will acknowledge it and then move on.”