Norris no longer “a passenger” in Monaco amid tonsillitis recovery

Norris said that if he had been feeling 100% fit and had not made mistakes on his lap, he might have qualified even higher.

Speaking at length for the first time about his recent illness, Norris made it clear just how tough the Spanish GP weekend was for him as he battled to an eighth-place finish.

“It’s been a long week, just because of suffering the amount I did last week with the tonsillitis and fever and everything,” Norris said when asked by Motorsport.com about his health situation.

“And then racing with it just made it even worse than it ever needed to be. But it was something that had to be done, and I was so happy with with doing it.

“It just took a big toll on me physically, so I was struggling a lot Sunday night. I did everything I could possibly do, literally talking to no one, and whatever. I’m recovering.

“Throat-wise, I’m in a much better place, I can eat and drink now, which is already a good start – something I couldn’t do last week.

“I didn’t sleep at all last last week, so just catching up on that, it’s not something which you can just catch up on in a couple of days. It takes time.”

Norris stressed that while he’s felt better in Monaco this weekend, he’s still not fully recovered,

“I know I’m not 100% now,” he said. “You can probably tell by how red my face is, there’s a few things I’m still struggling with.

“But it’s much better, I’m more confident that when I get in the car, I’m on top of things, rather than being almost a passenger.

“But this is tough, because I know especially here in Monaco, you need to be on top of everything. And it’s where you want to be physically 100%.

“I know I’m quite a way off that still, even though I feel like I can do a good job.”

Elaborating on how much performance he might be missing, he said: “When I say I’m way off, I mean it can be a tenth, a tenth and a half.

“But if I talk today about a tenth and a half, and a couple of little mistakes…