Lando Norris endured “one of the toughest” races of his career in Barcelona as the 22-year-old fought off tonsilitis amid the intense heat this weekend.
McLaren CEO, Zak Brown, issued an update on the British driver’s condition and has said he is hopeful Norris will be fighting fit in time for the Monaco GP this coming Sunday.
Despite feeling incredibly unwell, with a fever and headache, the McLaren driver managed to finish eighth in the sweltering heat at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Formula 1 bosses opted to allow Norris to be withdrawn from his post-race media duties as he was sent to the team’s motorhome to be checked over by a doctor.
Just 24 hours later, McLaren CEO Zak Brown was interviewed on Any Driven Monday, on Sky Sports, where he gave an update on Norris’ condition.
He said: “Yeah, a great drive. He was very ill. We weren’t even sure he was going to get the clearance from the doctor to drive but fortunately he did.
“He is a tough guy and he drove great. He has tonsillitis and is in bed now so hopefully, he will be okay for the weekend in Monaco.
“It was a pretty exciting race at the front, unfortunately, we weren’t at the front but he did great. I think he should be fine.
“It is Monday, he still doesn’t feel great today but he has got four days to recover so I would like to think so.”
However, he said: “Sitting here now, he still doesn’t feel good.”
Norris gave fans an update himself and said he was unable to be 100% prepared for Sunday’s battle due to missing engineering sessions but said he was happy to bring home points.
McLaren released a statement on behalf of the driver that read: “Today was tough. I was feeling really unwell before the race as I’m suffering with tonsillitis, and that, in combination with the high temperatures, made this one of the hardest races I’ve ever done.
“I’ve been a bit on the backfoot this weekend as most of my energy has been spent fighting off this illness. I’ve had to miss a lot of engineering sessions, which has compromised my weekend, and I definitely wasn’t as prepared for the Grand Prix as I could have been.
“With that in mind, I’m really pleased to have come out of the race with decent points for the team.”
