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Norris confident that pain problems are under control
McLaren's Lando Norris is confident he has overcome the physical discomfort that affected his opening races as he prepares for this weekend’s race at Silverstone.
After finishing on the podium for the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix, Norris began experiencing pain throughout the Styrian Grand Prix weekend, which was held at the same venue the following week. The problem was identified as bruising sustained while his body readjusted to the physical demands of driving an F1 car, and after seeing an improvement the following week in Hungary, Norris is not expecting any problems at the British GP.
“Hungary was much better already than the Red Bull Ring race – round two,” Norris said. “There, I was in a pretty bad way. I couldn’t drive without being on the painkillers at all, so that was a bit of a lifesaver from my end in just letting me get out on track and drive.
“By the time we went to Hungary it was already better, and obviously I went back and saw the specialist and the doctors and everyone and we figured out a bit more what the problem was. It wasn’t something that we could just fix; it’s something that we think is going to take time. Even those few days of time between the two race weekends, I felt better and I did FP3 with no painkillers and I was fine, and I performed well and so on.
“My only worry was going into the race or qualifying when you have the highest brake pressure, and then the race when it’s just the longevity of it that something could arise. It wasn’t that I couldn’t drive, it was just something I was a bit more hesitant about thinking what happens if it does come up in the race? Then I might struggle.
“So I was fine from my side and from what I knew, but I think it’s just something that will take a bit of time to get better from my side, because it was just more bruising, basically. It was just pure bruising from driving a Formula 1 car having not driven one for so long. So I should be fine come Silverstone.”
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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