McLaren’s Lando Norris has disclosed that he has been battling illness throughout the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, with his energy levels being at their lowest in a long time.
Norris has had a difficult weekend so far at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya, missing the majority of second practise due to damage to his MCL36 after running over a curb.
Norris was clearly ill after qualifying 11th for Sunday’s race. When asked about his health, he stated, “I’ve been much better. I’ve not been great all weekend, to be honest.”
“I’m suffering with my throat, my eyes and seeing, which doesn’t help. I’ve got many things.”
“My sleep and energy levels are probably the worst I’ve had in a long time. Not at my peak this weekend.”
Despite feeling unwell, Norris appeared to put in a strong qualifying performance to reach Q3, only to have the crucial run removed due to a track limitations infringement, ruling him out of the top-10 shootout.
“I was so happy even to be in Q3 and to do the lap I did with how this weekend has gone so far,” reflected Norris. “I was quite surprised but it just makes me feel good.”
Norris offered “simple” explanation on what unfolded at turn 12, the British driver added: “It was as simple as it looked really.”
“From the onboard, it looked like I was still on the track but from the outboards, from the FIA [cameras], I was clearly off the track.”
Asked if the team had spoken to the FIA about the matter, Norris added: “Once you’re off you’re off, so it’s simple.
“I had to go for another incident with Stroll and I looked then but I think what makes it so tricky on this corner is that you have the gravel run-off and then 10 centimetres or so of track that you can’t use before the gravel.
“In some cases, it is much easier to say the gravel is the limit and everyone pushes up to the gravel and if you go off, there is a punishment already.
“But I don’t know. It has been a rule all season that the white line is the limit so I didn’t stick to it.”
