“It’s been very difficult,” Oscar Piastri sheds light on his food-poising woes during Azerbaijan GP weekend

Oscar Piastri struggled with food poisoning throughout the Azerbaijan GP weekend, but still delivered a rather commendable result considering his situation.

“It’s been very difficult,” Oscar Piastri sheds light on his food-poising woes during Azerbaijan GP weekend

Oscar Piastri (Credits: Autsport)

Oscar Piastri, the McLaren F1 driver, had a physically challenging four days at the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The young Australian was in pretty bad condition since landing in Baku and was struggling through the various F1 sessions. The cause? Food poisoning. In a sport such as Formula 1, catching this illness is particularly bad. However, despite this fact, he was able to run for the whole duration of the Azerbaijan GP.

While talking about his troubles, the McLaren driver said after the race, “It’s been quite the physical journey for the last 24 hours. I felt a bit better [in the] morning, which was good. Through the race, it didn’t impact me too much. I’m a lot lighter than I was at the start of the weekend! [Sunday’s] probably been the best all weekend, which isn’t saying much.”

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He even said that he has only had a meager ‘four pieces of toast’ as food in Baku. The Australian driver said: “It’s been very difficult, physically. Especially [Saturday] was pretty rough. I think I’ve had about four pieces of toast for the whole weekend, so I need to get some food back in me before Miami.” Looking at Piastri’s comments, it is quite clear that he’s had a pretty challenging last few days in Azerbaijan.

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He has moreover, made it known that he lost quite a bit of weight during the whole event and is going to fuel up his ‘tank’ properly before the upcoming weekend’s Miami Grand Prix. He had a tough time in Baku and does not want the repeat of the same at the upcoming race, which while not as intensive as Baku with a changed sprint format, can still prove to be very challenging.

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Oscar Piastri ended the Azerbaijan GP in P11

Oscar Piastri
Oscar Piastri

While Oscar Piastri was going through his physical troubles during the Azerbaijan weekend, during the main race, he was able to run for the whole duration of the race and was able to do a pretty solid job. He ended his exploits in P11 which is quite commendable, considering the food poisoning troubles he had since landing in Baku.

The physical demands at the pinnacle of motor race are huge and it is not easy to run for the whole race while not being at 100 percent capacity. For this Piastri deserves a huge round of applause. The next race is approaching very fast and it is going to be extremely crucial for the Australian to get back to his optimum fitness levels. Especially now that McLaren seem to have an improved package.

The Miami Grand Prix is also a street race and the demands are going to be huge on the physical side of things. All F1 teams have got the best medical/health coaches and it is going to be interesting to see in what shape the Australian is going to be in when he arrives in Miami. Considering everything, do you think Piastri would be back to his proper fitness levels?

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