Sainz Details How He Managed To Recover From Surgery For Appendicitis In Just 2 Weeks
F1Thursday, 28 March 2024 at 18:00
Scuderia Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz detailed what he did in order to recover in only two weeks for the 2024 Australian Grand Prix.
The Spanish driver was diagnosed with appendicitis ahead of the second race of the season in Saudi Arabia. He had to miss the race, as he had to undergo an urgent surgery.
F1 is a very demanding sport, and so it wasn't clear whether two weeks before the next race would be enough for the Spaniard to recover and participate in the next race.
The 29-year-old explained to the media at Albert Park Circuit what he did to recover from the surgery as soon as possible:
"As soon as I got my appendix removed, I went on the internet and started talking with professionals and said: 'Okay, what helps to speed up recovery?'"
"From that point onwards, I started doing all the sort of things that you can do to speed up recovery, the wounds, the scar tissue, what you can help to be faster on that, talking to other athletes, talking to other doctors in Spain and internationally. Then, I put together a plan with my team. "
Many people wonder how athletes can recover so quickly. Having experienced what he has in the recent few weeks, Carlos Sainz knows exactly why.
"The reason why athletes recover faster is because you can dedicate 24 hours per day for seven days to recovery, that's exactly what I did."
"I started going to hyperbaric chambers twice a day for one hour, taking an Indiba machine, which is an electromagnetic thing for wounds."
The 29-year-old raced multiple times before at the circuit in Melbourne, which means he knows it really well and could afford to sacrifice time that he would otherwise use for practice and go all out on recovery instead.
"I was programming my time in bed, my time to go for a walk, my time to eat, the kind of food that you have to recover, everything was centred around recovery to try to be ready for Australia.
"Don't worry, because in the second week [post surgery], every day is going to [be better than the last]' - even Alex Albon told me this. So I just followed more or less what everyone told me and put together a good plan."
Long story short, the Spanish Ferrari driver went on to qualify in the front row. After starting the Grand Prix from P2, he overtook Max Verstappen on the second lap and then managed the race from P1 until he crossed the line to achieve his third career win.
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