Lando Norris successfully battled against illness to qualify fourth on the grid for the Brazilian Grand Prix Sprint – but admitted he still "felt sick" throughout the session.
The Brit was forced to skip media day on Thursday after coming down with suspected food poisoning. It was the second time this season he has been struck down shortly before a race weekend – he suffered from tonsillitis throughout the Spanish Grand Prix.
Norris described that weekend in Barcelona as one of his "hardest races ever". But it seems on Friday he was able to put his illness to one side to produce an excellent result for his team.
"I feel a bit sick," he told Sky Sports cameras after the session. In truth, he did not need to say it – it was clear by looking at the Brit's face that he was still unwell, even if he was fit enough to compete.
He went on: "I am really happy with [qualifying] to be honest. I don't feel good. I feel like I didn't do many things as well as I maybe should have done if I was feeling a bit better, but things still turned out really well.
"I think I was P1 in Q1, P2 in Q2. A surprisingly good day. Happy for [pole sitter Kevin Magnussen] to see him on top, and how happy the whole team is. It is nice to see. Maybe not a perfect day."
Asked to expand on that last comment, which came as something as a surprise considering his place on the grid, Norris added: "When the conditions were a bit more tricky we were the quickest. But in the end, it was a bit more, 'Do we take the risk and go out first when the track conditions are the best or do we wait a bit and hope they get better?'
"We chose the second option, which really wasn't the correct one at the end of the day but I still managed to get P4 even with the wettest track out of everyone. You win some and lose some at the end of the day."
Magnussen was the big winner from the rain-affected session, securing the first pole position of his F1 career. He starts the Sprint on the front row alongside Max Verstappen, with Norris on the row behind with fellow Brit George Russell.
