Lando Norris says changes made to Formula 1 cars in recent years have contributed to the severe back pain he started to suffer from last season.
The McLaren driver revealed he has adopted new physiotherapy routines, had new seats made for him and even given up his beloved rounds of golf to ease the strain on his back.
Norris said the pain from his back “was probably worse last year than it is this year.” In 2022 F1 introduced new technical rules which led to teams producing cars which are sprung much more stiffly than before. Other drivers have also said the new generation of cars put more strain on their backs.
“Almost every year until last year, I could get away with just hopping in the car and not doing any physio in a way,” Norris explained. “I always did it but I could get away with it. Now I have to do it.
“I have to stretch, I have to do all these things, morning and evening, before every session. If I don’t, then I always struggle a lot more with my back.”
Other factors have also contributed to his back pain. “It’s not just racing, it is other things, it’s something that I’ve had to work on in general anyway,” he said. “But it’s definitely not helped by some of the changes on the car over the last couple of years.”
He began to make changes after the pain became especially severe during last season. “It got to quite a bad point last year,” he said. “Every day I was struggling, struggling with sleep and everything just in constant pain, and now I’m in a much better position.
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“But I’m also limiting a lot more things around it. Doing more stretching, all those things, but limiting even golf, I’m playing a lot less golf just because of my back, doing more physio all those things. So, some things I have to crank up and some things I’ve had to pay the price for, like playing golf or some sports, because normally it’s always sports I’m walking.
“Even tracks walks, as soon as I do a track walk I struggle a lot so I’ve had to cut down on track walks. Little things that maybe I didn’t realise but have helped me quite a bit just get into a better position and struggle a lot less, because I was struggling a lot every day, every night with quite a bit of pain.”
Norris said he’s “in a much better position now down to some of my own stuff and down to some stuff we’ve done with the team and the seating and stuff like that.”
“I’m happier now,” he added. “I would love to play more golf as well, and certain things even with cycling and running, my back hurts. So I still can’t do everything that I would want to do, but there’s also things away from the track I’ve just got to do. More training for my core and lower back and glutes and things like that.”
He hopes the pain in his back won’t lead to “any long-term effects,” and pointed out other drivers have voiced concerns over the punishment they experience in the current generation of F1 cars.
“A number of people have spoken up about it and said it. I know everyone’s different, some people don’t, some people do but I guess for my own health and everything it’s something I need to look after.”
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McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said they are assisting Norris to reduce the pain he is experiencing.
“We are following this matter very closely with Lando and obviously some will have to come, as he explained himself, from his own understanding of what his body requires in terms of potential, even conditioning and in terms of how he needs to sit in the car to be comfortable and avoid these kind of issues.
“From our side there’s quite a lot of variables that we can play with, but we need to know exactly where we have to put our focus. So it’s really a work in progress, there’s no revolution in the plan in terms of the seating position, how upright it will be. We are in the middle of the process, and I guess we will discover a bit more.”
Stella believe the situation is improving. “At the moment, it looks like he seems to be getting better after a session.
“So we are hoping in a way that this will gradually fix itself thanks to the work that Lando is also doing and adaptation, even in terms of lifestyle, as we heard, which I know must be very, very painful for such a passionate golf player.”
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