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Sainz expects to recover from eye infection by qualifying

19:45, 28 Sep 2018

byJake Williams-Smith

Carlos Sainz says he expects he will have fully recovered from an eye infection he suffered from on Friday in Sochi. The Renault driver spoke to media in between practice one and two but reassured them that he would be fully fit tomorrow in time for qualifying for the Russian Grand Prix.

“I’m feeling better today,” he told RaceFans. “I don’t know why, I got a strange infected eye which gave me also a bit of fever and a bit of throat pain so I was a bit of a disaster yesterday.

“I’m nearly back to normal, probably a bit short on energy but tomorrow should be fine.”

Sainz attributed the infection to his flight into Sochi, saying he first noticed it arriving into Russia. He was given the all clear though by medical officials from Hintsa Performance.

“They give me antibiotics for the eye and some ibuprofen for the throat.

“It’s damaging, for sure,” he added. “It’s something that as a driver you always don’t enjoy but it’s something the team has to do.

“There’s sometimes quite a lot of work going on in FP1 regarding aero but also regarding tyre understanding. You always start to see how the tyre behaves, how the tyre degrades. How the tyre behaves in one timed lap.

“So thanks to that, pick up some data and improve for FP2 but we have obviously to do it all over in FP2.”