Lando Norris says he feels in better shape for this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix after having the chest pains he suffered last week examined in Britain.
The McLaren driver returned home for medical checks but says he respected restrictions to prevent the spread of Covid-19 by staying within his ‘bubble’.“We’ve diagnosed it and I’m feeling better for this week, which is a very good thing,” Norris revealed in today’s FIA press conference.
“I went back to the UK in the last few days, remaining in my bubble, to go and see some specialists and get scans and so on. We diagnosed pretty much what the problem was and I’m feeling better.
“It’s not something that is going to heal completely overnight, but I’m much better than what I was last weekend. So that’s a good thing.”
Norris said he won’t know how successful his treatment has been “until I’m in the car and I’m pushing it to the limit again.”
“Better for now everything’s good and I look forward to it,” he added.
The 20-year-old had to curtail his running during Friday’s practice session last week due to the pain he was experiencing. He said the symptoms were brought on by his extended period out of the cockpit during the Covid-19 lockdown.
“It’s just bruising from being out of the car for so long, and then getting back into it and going straight into a race weekend, doing so many laps and so on,” he explained. “So it wasn’t something I could really prepare for or know about until after we did the first weekend.
“Obviously having a few days off in between it then hit my body a few days later and I was a bit bruised and so on.”
McLaren were unable to run their drivers in a Formula 1 car before the season began, but arranged a test session at Silverstone for Norris and team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr in Formula 3 cars provided by Carlin.
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Jere (@jerejj)
16th July 2020, 18:19
His brief trip to the UK instead of going straight to Budapest despite the distance is more justifiable than Bottas’ and Leclerc’s additional travels, but still, couldn’t he have done the same (seeing specialists and getting scans) in Austria at least, if not in Hungary due to the restrictions on UK-people? Did he really need to go all the way to the UK to be able to get the necessary treatment?
chimaera2003 (@chimaera2003)
16th July 2020, 19:12
@jerejj McLaren probably have a list of preferred doctors and medical professionals who they know and trust. Unless there was a similarly vetted and trusted equivalent available locally in Austria/Hungary then they were probably unlikely to go to the effort of doing diligence for this.
You are right in that there will be suitable medical provision locally, it is just a question of trust and I bet there are insurance implications as well. It is like seeing a new doctor at your local surgery, even though you know they are qualified, you are always more comfortable with your regular doctor.
Jere (@jerejj)
16th July 2020, 19:22
@chimaera2003 Yes, I also started to wonder about something along the lines of this. I knew straight away that each country has hospitals and clinics, and thought whether the UK’s healthcare is better than that of Austria and Hungary, but your suggestion seems plausible and what it’s most likely about.
steven
17th July 2020, 8:55
Austrian healthcare is far better than UK’s that have to buy everything to other people!
anon
16th July 2020, 22:07
@jerejj as an aside, there is currently a debate in the world of cricket over the fact that one player did breach the protocols in the England v West Indies Test Series.
In that case, one England player chose to go from the first venue, which was in Southampton, over to his house in Brighton, where he met one other person (who has since been proven to be covid-19 negative). After that, he then went up to Manchester where the next game is being played.
The response by England’s cricket board has been unequivocal – that player has now been removed from the squad and ordered to go into self-isolation for a minimum of 5 days, where they will have to have additional tests undertaken to confirm they are clear. In that situation, the response of somebody breaching the bio-secure environment they have put in place have been unequivocal and immediate – precisely because they want to make it clear that breaches will not be tolerated.
NandosNan
17th July 2020, 13:58
He forgot his EHIC card so had to go back to England in order to get free treatment on the NHS. Being a twitch streamer isn’t the best paid job in the world
Rodber
16th July 2020, 18:24
Norris is THE star off the first two rounds. The meister of Spielberg.
Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
16th July 2020, 20:05
Lando is still recovering from injuries suffered during his brutal stint in virtual racing. Those zero-G forces can be savage.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
17th July 2020, 2:15
I’m finding it hard to understand how traveling back to the UK separately, and visiting medical specialists meet the definition of “staying in a bubble”
Whilst Lando clearly has a reason, and required medical attention, it is farcical to suggest that he “remained within his bubble” unless there’s an extremely weird definition of bubble.
With this, Leclerc and Bottas, they might as well just abandon their bio security and just let people go wherever they want as clearly there appears to be no real enforcement or effort being made.
Anthony (@lagerstars)
17th July 2020, 7:47
You realise that LEC was busted partying in Monaco right, hugging multiple people and was caught by them posting it to Instagram and you think that’s the same as Norris taking private transport to a UK medical facility?
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
17th July 2020, 7:43
An F1 driver having G-Force chest pain is really concerning. Was there really no physical training to prepared that?
MacLeod (@macleod)
17th July 2020, 8:10
That is why they have personal trainers but i think the amount of time outside the car made him bruisable if he was allready prone to bruising or recovering body. normal there is atleast 2 weeks betwen races and he could recover but now 3 times in 3 weeks that is hard on bodies :)
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
17th July 2020, 8:39
@macleod McLaren should have specific facility for its drivers to prepare G-Force like Ferrari rollercoaster in Abu Dhabi.
aezy_doc
17th July 2020, 10:20
Are you seriously suggesting that McLaren should build a rollercoaster? Or that Vettel and Leclerc train in Abu Dhabi by sitting on one for a couple of hours at a time? I really hope I’ve missed the sarcasm/humour in your post!
DeanR
17th July 2020, 12:38
You must be great fun at parties
aezy_doc
17th July 2020, 12:44
On form ruliemaulana’s comment may well be serious. I needed to check!
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
17th July 2020, 12:56
You’re right. Rollercoaster is too much. Maybe something like NASA’s G-Force simulator but portable.
Alan Dove
17th July 2020, 8:04
Sounds a lot like rib and back injuries from karting. Whilton Mill will do that to you and he did do a day or two there before Austria. He did sound a little in pain in his vlog video.