How Lando Norris Keeps Himself Healthy to Avoid Getting Sick in Mexico, Brazil

Lando Norris opens up on things he avoids when traveling, especially to places like Mexico and Brazil, as he and Max Verstappen add to the recovery schedule.

With Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Valtteri Bottas falling ill and skipping Thursday’s media session of the F1 Mexico GP, McLaren‘s Norris revealed what he does when he travels to places like Mexico and Brazil, based on previous experiences.

Norris says he’s too fussy about food, so he keeps pasta with him to eat. On using water, he even brushes his teeth using bottled water, fearing the tap water might be contaminated. “I don’t know, I’m pretty simple,” he said to the media at the F1 Mexico GP.

Norris Reveals Steps To Remain Healthy in Mexico, Brazil

“So, I try to avoid all funky foods. I just stick to pasta and a bit of chicken now and then. I don’t know, like, here, I don’t have anything from tap water, I also brush with bottled water and all that stuff, so simple things.

“Because I’ve been ill here in the past from just, I don’t know what it is, the water and the same in Brazil and things like that. So, I guess over time things become a little bit more predictable, and you know what to avoid and stuff. I think likely because I’m quite fussy with my food. I avoid a lot of the stuff that can make me ill,” summed up Norris.

The biggest training that anyone can do is rest. The Brit practices it at the start of the weekend after the F1 race on Sunday. He makes sure to do nothing on Monday and Tuesday, especially when inside a double or triple header. He keeps time at hand to recover because even marketing days can be hectic. “Also, just rest,” Norris continued.

Norris Makes Sure He Rests Up Well

“I had Monday-Tuesday off just to myself to not do anything. You don’t realize it, but just days, even when you’re part of our job, even when you do marketing days and stuff, it drains you a lot.

“I don’t have a lot of time to recover, even though it’s just talking and thinking about things all day, but when you’re racing, when you’re traveling, you need a good rest. So, just sleep, getting to places all the time. A lot of people travel out very late. I prefer traveling out very early to places, so everyone has their own routine for this.”

How does he maintain or track himself? He wears WHOOP, which is connected to his trainer’s device, which keeps track of everything Norris does. It is a useful tool even for the Brit, who wants to know where his body is at and what he has to do.

Norris Has Tracker That His Trainer Uses

“My trainer has access to my WHOOP,” said Norris. “I do [track myself], but the fact that he has access means he sees everything. Basically, I may not have an ankle monitor on; he can’t see where I go, but he can see how well I’m sleeping. It’s even in the past here: my HRV drops, heart rate goes up, all the little things.

“Again, you can use previous years of data to understand trends of if I’m falling ill, my temperature’s high, all these different things. So, I use it for sleep normally to see how I’m sleeping and my recovery and things, if I need to nap during the day and stuff like that.

“But also use it for health trends in terms of my recovery and how my body’s performing. It is an important thing for me; I don’t obsess over it. Of course, I like to wake up and see green, which is rare, but you also do it for sports, as I think it’s a nice thing when you’ve done sport all day, and you see calorie burn, all those little things.

“They also like positive things. It’s always nice for your mind to see that kind of stuff. So, not obsessive, but it generally helps me for sure more than it doesn’t,” summed up Norris, as Red Bull‘s Verstappen said he doesn’t wear such bands which can track him.

Verstappen Doesn’t Tracks But Rests Up Well

He agrees with Norris on resting up on a Monday and Tuesday, getting a good sleep, but nothing more. “I don’t like to be tracked, so I don’t wear anything,” said Verstappen. “No, it’s more just knowing a bit of what your body needs. Well, one thing that it needs is good sleep, right?

“For me, also, like in between the race weekends, I really like to just not do anything. Because you can go to the gym, and you can work out a lot, but I feel like I’m race fit and fit enough when I’m driving the car. So, like, for example, on the Monday and Tuesday after Austin, I really didn’t do much.

“So, we just, yeah, spent a bit of time just with myself, by myself, speaking to people back at home, organizing, of course, stuff also outside of Formula One, things like that, but in general, yeah, not too much crazy activity,” summed up Verstappen.