Norris reveals illness and vision struggle

McLaren

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Norris reveals illness and vision struggle

Norris qualified 11th after his best Q2 effort was deleted for a track limits violation

Sam Hall

Saturday 21 May 2022 20:00

Lando Norris has revealed he has been struggling with illness across the Spanish Grand Prix weekend that has left his energy levels at 'the worst in a long time'.

Norris has endured a tough weekend at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya so far that has included him missing the majority of second practice through damage caused to his MCL36 after running over a kerb.

Speaking after qualifying 11th for Sunday's race, Norris appeared visibly ill. When asked about his condition, he said: "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."

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Given his symptoms, Norris had appeared to pull off a superb lap in qualifying to reach Q3, only for the key run to be deleted for a track limits violation and rule him out of the top-10 shoot-out.

"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 offers "simple" explanation

Explaining 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."