Max Verstappen reveals extent of Zandvoort illness after recovery period

Max Verstappen revealed he was as unwell as he had been for a long time during the Dutch Grand Prix weekend, needing several days after the race to recover from illness.

The Red Bull driver admitted he felt “very ill” during his home race weekend, and needed the gap in the calendar to recuperate after what had also been a difficult weekend on track.

Max Verstappen admits ‘awful’ Dutch GP weekend amid retirement and illness

Verstappen retired on the opening lap of his final home race at Zandvoort, getting caught out on a drying track around the final corner.

He revealed after the race that he had felt unwell from qualifying onwards, and has since said at Monza that it took a while after the race to fully get back to normal.

“I’m just looking forward to a week break where I could just recover also because I really didn’t feel good,” he said after his incident at Zandvoort.

There had already been change on the other side of the Red Bull garage as Isack Hadjar’s wrist injury brought Liam Lawson back into the fold at Red Bull Racing and, and, while Verstappen’s fitness to race was not in doubt, he took the time required to recover.

Elaborating on how his Sunday panned out at his home race, Verstappen told PlanetF1.com and accredited media at Monza: “I felt good in terms of the impact because it was a safer barrier, so that was the first time that I did that. Actually, did its job pretty well, but I was very ill.

“You appreciate once you’re fully healed, how good it is to feel like that because the whole weekend at Zandvoort was awful.

“Even after Zandvoort for a few days, I was still not good, so it was actually really nice to have that week to recover and feel better again because it’s been a very long time that I felt like that.”

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Verstappen heads into the Italian Grand Prix with Lawson alongside him once again, with regular teammate Hadjar still yet to fully recover from injury.

The team had waited on the French driver’s fitness until Wednesday, but Lawson will continue to deputise in his absence, with Yuki Tsunoda back behind the wheel at Racing Bulls at Monza.

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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