Lando Norris to race in Brazil after food poisoning scare

McLaren’s Lando Norris will drive as normal at the Brazilian Grand Prix despite contracting food poisoning earlier this week.

Norris skipped Thursday’s media sessions after falling ill in Sao Paulo, but McLaren said it had no concerns about him missing track time on Friday.

Returning to the car on Friday was more essential for Norris than other F1 weekends, with Brazil’s event held under ‘sprint’ rules, meaning the first competitive session of the race takes place that afternoon.

The British driver will take part in Friday practice, held ahead of qualifying, which is normally held on Saturday.

The grid set in qualifying is for a shortened sprint race on Saturday, which then sets the grid for the grand prix itself on Sunday.

McLaren had Mercedes reserve driver Nyck de Vries on standby if Norris was unable to compete.

De Vries, set to race at AlphaTauri next season, had a seat fitting in Norris’ car on Thursday afternoon and will be in line to step in should Norris fall unwell again.