[ad_1]
Carlos Sainz will return to Formula 1 action in Friday training for the Australian Grand Prix, just 14 days after undergoing an appendectomy, confident that his “strong recovery plan” will allow him to be in top shape throughout the race. weekend.
The 29-year-old driver drove on the first day of training in Saudi Arabia and struggled under the misconception that he was suffering from food poisoning. Sainz was diagnosed with appendicitis on Friday morning and underwent surgery, with reserve driver Ollie Bearman taking his place.
Sainz is in Melbourne and completed his Thursday tasks normally, paying tribute to the advances in medicine that allow him to drive a car just fifteen days after undergoing surgery. However, he admits that he will not be at 100% due to his committed preparation.
“It is possible thanks to the advances that medicine has made in the last 20-30 years,” Sainz said of his return two weeks after surgery. “When my father (rally legend Carlos Sainz Sr) had surgery, they opened you up. Nowadays, with laparoscopy, they make three very small holes and that accelerates recovery two or three times faster than before.
“The doctors, after the operation, said ‘obviously it’s going to be difficult, there are 14 days left from the operation until I get in the car on Friday, but it’s possible.’ Obviously, they don’t know what F1 is and G-forces and all that, but it is possible and I feel like it will be possible given how I feel now.
“Will I be 100%? Surely not. It’s not a lie, 100% would mean spending 10 days training, doing simulator (work). I haven’t done that in the last 10 days, I’ve just been focused on recovering. But will I be able to run? The feeling now is yes and I will see how I feel tomorrow, and that is tomorrow.”
WHAT HAPPENED IN JEDDA
While it was surprising that Sainz’s appendicitis had not been noticed earlier, he said the symptoms on Wednesday and Thursday were consistent with food poisoning.
However, it became clear that his driving problems during FP1 and FP2 and subsequent deterioration meant that he needed further medical checks.
“At that time it was very difficult to know that it was appendicitis,” Sainz. “On Wednesday I started to feel very bad in the paddock and I had the typical symptoms of food poisoning, I don’t think I need to go into details of what that is, and I had a very high fever.
“I spent Thursday also with those symptoms, but obviously with medication. When I got in the car I felt much better because I was taking the medication.
“But then after those two sessions I realized I couldn’t keep going like this all weekend, so if I don’t get better I’ll go to the hospital. I didn’t get better on Friday morning, which was triage day, so I went to the hospital and was diagnosed with appendicitis, which wasn’t easy to diagnose because I didn’t have the typical symptoms.
“I had the surgery, which was a great job by the doctors because as soon as they took it out, I felt like I was back to normal and I was able to start focusing on recovering.”
Sainz went to the circuit on the day of the race in Saudi Arabia, the day after his operation, to follow the progress of substitute Bearman. He said this was because he had been told to go for a walk to aid recovery.
“The doctors recommended that I go for a walk after the operation and I told them that instead of walking in my hotel room, I should go into the paddock, watch the race with my engineers and learn something or help my engineers,” Sainz said. “Ollie did great, he did a really good job.”
THE RECOVERY PROCESS
Sainz said the first week of his recovery was difficult, although it got easier in the second.
He arrived in Melbourne earlier in the week to prepare for the race and said each day brings significant progress in recovery.
“Every day I feel much better,” Sainz said. “Every 24 hours I make a lot of progress. It’s true that the first week was hard, a lot of time in bed and recovering. That’s when you see things a little darker, but then in the second week the recovery speeds up a lot and I started to feel a lot better.
“I’m confident that tomorrow I’ll be able to get in the car and do well. Obviously, I put together a very solid recovery plan since I landed home to be ready for this race. “I’ll get in the car tomorrow and see how I feel, but I feel positive about it.”
Sainz has not been able to do any major training since Jeddah due to his recovery, but is confident that his high level of underlying fitness will allow him to avoid any problems.
“With the amount of training I did in the winter and how fit I was in Jeddah and Bahrain because of that, I feel like I’ll be fit tomorrow because it’s not like in two weeks you lose muscle or aerobic capacity. .
“It is not the same to spend 10 days training as I would have done and go to a simulator. That’s why I say I’m not going to be at 100% fitness level, at my maximum, but I’m going to be fit enough to compete. That will not be a limitation.”
WHAT CONDITION IS IT IN?
Sainz should have no problems driving, although he will need a little time to adapt to the sensations after the operation.
That is based on the advice of Williams driver Alex Albon, who missed the 2022 Italian Grand Prix due to needing an appendectomy.
Albon returned for the next race in Singapore despite suffering complications in the form of respiratory failure that led to him being in intensive care. However, Albon had one more week to recover.
“I found a lot of support in Alex Albón because he went through a similar process,” Sainz said. “I think he had a few more days than me because he had surgery a little earlier and he had a few days.
“He said, ‘Yeah, it’ll feel a little weird at first, but then you’ll get used to it.’ We’ll see. The problem is that I don’t know. Until you get into an F1 car and feel the forces, it is impossible to know.
“What I know is that today I am much better than yesterday, and yesterday I was much better than two days ago. So with that progress, I feel pretty encouraged and positive.”
Sainz says the exercises he has done show that he is fit enough to get in the car and try to drive. However, he accepts that there is a possibility that he may have problems once subjected to the intense physical demands of driving the car.
His condition will be closely monitored and he will also undergo medical checks carried out by the FIA, which has been monitoring his progress.
“First of all, just by seeing me move and the exercises I’m doing in the gym or anything, this tells me that I’m in a position to get in the car tomorrow and try it,” Sainz said when asked how his physical condition is to drive. . can be evaluated.
“I’m not stupid, and if I don’t feel good tomorrow I’ll be the first to raise my hand and say I need another two weeks for the next race. This, together with the FIA, is also the plan we have in place. Tomorrow I have another control with the FIA. They are monitoring my progress.
“I am the first who does not want to feel pain or suffer, to make things worse. I will be very clear about how I feel. On top of that, going back to Thursday (in Jeddah), I wouldn’t have gotten in the car if it wasn’t possible. I did the 26 laps because I could, not because I was in agonizing pain. Yes, it wasn’t an easy 26 laps per session, but I was able to achieve them.”
Sainz added that he will spend more time on physical therapy over the race weekend as an extension of the work he has been doing to prepare since the operation.
“More physiotherapy, also with some machines that we are using to speed up recovery,” Sainz said when asked how his approach to the weekend is changing. The amount of time I have invested in my recovery is not the amount of time a normal person invests.
“(There are) incredible modern machines that help with recovery. That’s why athletes, when we have injuries, usually recover faster than other people, because we put ourselves in situations and machines and all that helps speed up recovery a lot.
“You have to think that during the last 14 days, 24 hours have been focused on recovery. And along with a couple of changes that I need to make with the belts, with the sponges, just to protect the area, everything should be ready.”