“I think he should be fine,” Andreas Seidl confident of Lando Norris recovering from illness before the Monaco GP
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Andreas Seidl and Lando Norris
McLaren’s Lando Norris was diagnosed with tonsillitis in the aftermath of the Spanish Grand Prix, and had been suffering a fever and headaches throughout the weekend at Barcelona. Despite that, the British driver, who had started 11th came back to finish 8th and took a solid haul of points, an admirable performance considering his predicament.
After the race, Norris was immediately withdrawn from any post-race media duties (considering his condition) and instead was taken to the team doctor, where he was diagnosed with tonsilitis. With only a one-week gap between the Spanish Grand Prix, and this weekend’s event at Monaco, Norris only has a few days to recover in time.
Speaking to Sky Sports about Norris’ condition and possible recovery by Monaco on Monday, Zak Brown felt that Norris had done a great job racing as well as he did in Spain.
“Yeah, a great drive [from Norris]. 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.”
“I think he should be fine. It is Monday, and he still doesn’t feel great today but he has got four days to recover so I would like to think so.”
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“One of the hardest races I have ever done” Norris on last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix
On his race, Norris had said: “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.”
He elaborated that the illness had been taking a toll on him all weekend, and hampering his performance, but was pleased to have gotten a decent chunk of points for McLaren.
“I’ve been a bit on the backfoot this weekend as most of my energy has been spent fighting off this illness. With that in mind, I’m really pleased to have come out of the race with decent points for the team.”
In case of Norris’ absence, McLaren have a good roster of replacement drivers to choose from. Alpine’s reserve driver Oscar Piastri was made available to them at the start of the year, initially as a result of Ricciardo’s absence from COVID-19.
Aside from Piastri, Nyck de Vries and Stoffel Vandoorne are also available, along with former F1 driver Paul di Resta. On being quizzed if Norris was a doubt for the event in Monaco, team principal Andreas Seidl had said:
“First of all, I think with the medical support we are having and with having the possibility now to rest for four days, I am hopeful that Lando will be fit. But as you know, we have different options in terms of reserve drivers prepared which we would pull in case of an emergency.”
But Seidl was hopeful that Norris would return for the race weekend, and also said that a decision on the reserve driver would be closer to the weekend, depending on availability and a myriad of other factors:
“But again, we are quite hopeful that Lando will be okay again by next Friday latest. In terms of the reserve driver, that is something we would work out on short notice, which of the options we would pull. It depends also on the availability. Not all of the guys are always available because of other commitments for other racing series.”
McLaren currently sit 4th in the Constructor’s championship, with 50 points, 39 of them supplied by Lando Norris. They would be hoping for a quick recovery for the British driver, and to break Ricciardo’s string of poor finishes, where he only finished in the points during one single feature race.
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