Lando Norris has been cleared to race at the Belgian Grand Prix following his heavy crash at Eau Rouge during qualifying.
The McLaren driver lost the car correcting a slide going up the hill as weather conditions worsened at the start of Q3, and was sent to hospital for a precautionary X-ray on his elbow.
But despite posting a photo of his arm in a bandage during the evening, Norris will be able to take to the track on Sunday.
“Following precautionary checks after an accident during qualifying at the Belgian Grand Prix, Lando Norris has been cleared to compete in the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix by the trackside doctor and FIA medical delegate,” a team spokesman said.
The bigger question is whether his car would be OK to race after the substantial damage it sustained, but McLaren chief Andreas Seidl confirmed the chassis itself is fine and only a five-place grid penalty for a new gearbox is expected.
As for Norris himself, he looked like a genuine contender for pole position after leading both Q1 and Q2 in the damp conditions before his off at Raidillon.
“Everything was going extremely well,” he commented. “Since the first lap in Q1 things were going perfectly and the car was hooked up, I felt confident in the car.
“It was tricky going out in Q3 because even on the out lap I was saying how wet it was and saying it should be stopped or something because I was aquaplaning quite a bit, so it was just a difficult situation to be in: how much do you want to push and how much do you not?
“I think it (the crash) was a combination of pushing a bit too much for the weather at that point, aquaplaning a little bit in the middle of Eau Rouge which obviously doesn’t end too well and ends up being the way I was in the end.
“Of course I feel bad because things were going very well, the car was on fire, Q1 and Q2 were extremely good and I think I could quite easily have fought for pole position, but I’ve now given the team a lot of work to do and probably a very late night, but not a lot I can do now.”
Norris then revealed he was cheering on fellow Brit George Russell, with the Williams driver claiming a shock P2 on the grid.
“I’m very happy for George as well, I was watching in the ambulance on the way – I wanted to watch quali still – and I was cheering on George to go for that pole,” Norris said.
“I’m excited [for the race]. Spa, anything can happen and we obviously had good pace, the car was really nice to drive today.
‘It’s cool, it’s fun conditions to drive in – maybe not quite at the end but the whole of Q1 and Q2 was challenging and it’s what we love as drivers. Hopefully, it’s not too bad tomorrow and I can try to come back through.”
