F1: Hamilton reveals how flu nearly cost him European GP points
By LJ Hutchins
Sunday, August 24th, 2008
Lewis Hamilton has revealed how a bout of flu and a stiff neck nearly cost him the eight European Grand Prix points that have helped him preserve his World Championship lead.
McLaren tester Pedro de la Rosa was nearly in the happy position of driving the first race at a new circuit in his native Spain after Hamilton admitted to “a pretty miserable weekend.”
But it was not to be, and Hamilton went on to come second behind Ferrari’s Felipe Massa after qualifying in that position.
He mentioned in the post-race press conference that he had experienced some health problems, and told Autosport.com: “I had the flu when I arrived so I had pretty hard fevers pretty much every day, and low energy.
“I also had quite a big problem with a spasm in my neck which kind of nearly did lead to me not racing this weekend.
“I only had it once. I just woke up very very early yesterday, before 5am yesterday, and I had the spasm in my neck. Fortunately I’ve got a great doctor who was with me the whole way through it.”
He said the neck pain was so bad that he was struggling to stand, and was forced to resort to pain-killing injections as well as support from his trainer.
He added: “Pedro was looking forward to racing.”
He said that he was not expecting the problem to reoccur in the future. “I think I’ve done a pretty decent job, considering.”
Related posts:
- F1: European Grand Prix live blog
- F1: Lewis on pole as McLaren shut out Valencia front row
- F1: will Kovalainen be fit to race in Turkey?
- F1: European Grand Prix liveblog
- F1 season finale: ‘Cheer up, nobody died’ says Hamilton Sr
Read more about European Grand Prix, Formula One, Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, Pedro de la Rosa, Valencia Street Circuit.
This entry was posted on Sunday, August 24th, 2008 at 5:01 pm and is filed under F1. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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Author: LJ Hutchins. Supports McLaren, kind of. Thinks James May gets a rough deal off the other two. Drives a Subaru Impreza but regrets its lack of bright blue paint and gold wheels. Is very nearly old enough to know better but probably never will. Is a supporter member of the BWRDC. LJ has written 1118 articles for us.
[...] Hamilton reveals how flu nearly cost him European GP points – “He said the neck pain was so bad that he was struggling to stand, and was forced to resort to pain-killing injections as well as support from his trainer.” [...]