Lewis Hamilton was suffering with dizziness and blurred vision after the Hungarian GP, but Mercedes say he has now fully recovered and back the new championship leader to come back stronger once a gripping 2021 season resumes in Belgium
Thursday 5 August 2021 19:24, UK
Lewis Hamilton has recovered from a physically draining Hungarian GP and will "come back really strong" after F1's summer break, say Mercedes.
After Sunday's chaotic race, Hamilton - who came back from 14th to finish second - had to visit the Mercedes team doctor as he suffered with fatigue and dizziness, and the sport's most successful driver said he suspected he was still feeling the effects after contracting Covid-19 last December.
But in Mercedes' post-race debrief, technical director Mike Elliott allayed any fears and said: "I saw him about an hour after that and he was definitely a chunk better and I know he has recovered since then."
Hamilton stated after the race he believed he may have long Covid, adding that his "levels of fatigue" were now "different" and a "real challenge".
Since returning home, he has been posting social media updates of his training sessions.
"Pushing to expand these lungs," Hamilton said on his Instagram stories. "Working through it. Nothing we can't do."
Hamilton also admitted he may have been struggling after a strength-sapping race in hot temperatures, as Elliott expanded on.
"During that race I suspect that was sort of 40, 50 degree air, it was humid," he said. "Lewis was really pushing on that two stop, some of the overtakes he was doing were absolutely brilliant. That takes a lot of energy out of you in that really hot environment.
"The average person like you and me, we wouldn't survive five minutes in there, let alone a whole race.
"So, it was unsurprising that Lewis was tired at the end of that, but as he said to the media I think he also wonders whether that is some of the feeling of having had COVID."
The F1 season now takes a three-week break before the Belgian GP on August 29, which Hamilton will head into with a championship lead after usurping Max Verstappen for the first time since May last weekend.
Elliott believes he will be fully prepared.
"He is now going to have a break over the shutdown and I am sure he will come back really strong for the second half of the season," he added.
