It was a used race Sunday in Sao Paulo for Lando Norris. First the McLaren driver collided with Charles Leclerc, then his car gave up the ghost. After Daniel Ricciardo’s early crash on lap one, this meant for his team: a double retirement and zero points at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
For Norris, the premature end was almost like a redemption. Because the Briton had started the race stricken. “I felt pretty bad yesterday,” he reveals. “Today I felt a bit better. I was able to eat and drink something before the race, which is the most important thing on such a hot day.”
Still, the 23-year-old admits: “I’m sure I would have been in pretty bad shape had I made it to the end of the race. So in a way I’m glad it didn’t happen, but it was a pity too.”
Norris: Lost almost ten pounds
“I got to a point where I started to struggle a bit physically, but then my race was over,” he continues, revealing how bad he was the days before.
“Thursday in particular took a toll on me. I didn’t eat or drink anything for two days and that’s why I lost three and a half, almost four kilos. It was really exhausting.” Nevertheless, he fought his way through practice and qualifying on Friday, where he finished fourth.
“Everyone thought that I would be fine after Friday because I did a good job and we were fast. But the opposite was the case,” says Norris. What did that mean for his driving? “I don’t think it cost me anything.”
How big was the restriction when driving?
“Maybe there were a few small mistakes and misjudgments in qualifying on Friday. But I always felt when I was in the car and on my lap, especially in qualifying, that I could do what I had to do, but in the long run, especially because of the sprint, I was exhausted in the end.”
The danger of having to cancel the weekend was quite real. “If I had felt the same way all weekend as I did on Thursday, I probably wouldn’t have driven,” said Norris. “I made a little progress on Friday, not much, but luckily it was just qualifying.”
“If I had gone straight into a race on Friday, I probably wouldn’t have made it. There were a few moments on Thursday where I thought maybe I wouldn’t be able to race,” he admits McLaren driver too.
“But I had a lot of support. All the doctors came to me at the hotel. Everyone gave me as much support as they could.” In the end it was his car that went on strike. “I think it was an electronic problem. I just stopped.