Max Verstappen reveals he's 'struggling' with illness ahead of Australian GP

Max Verstappen has admitted he is still feeling under the weather as he gears up for the Australian Grand Prix this weekend.

Heading into the third race of the season, Verstappen tops the standings by just a point to his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, a lead he’ll hope to extend at the Albert Park street circuit.

The two-time Formula One champion has looked his imperious best so far in 2023, with a dominant victory in Bahrain followed by an impressive drive from 15th to second in Saudi Arabia.

Moreover, he achieved the latter result whilst suffering from illness which forced him to miss media duties in Jeddah, and though he was able to fulfill them in Melbourne, the Dutchman revealed he still wasn’t 100% and is looking forward to the long break between Australia and Azerbaijan.

‘I was not looking forward to [the break] but then I got really ill and have just been struggling a bit since that time, especially last race out, so I think for me now these three weeks are just about getting back to full fitness, getting a full programme in,’ Verstappen said.

‘It felt like I was just missing a lung, and I got to the weekend [in Saudi Arabia] really believing that it was gone because normally when you get sick like two, three days after, you’re normally alright.

‘You know, you can just do your workouts – but then when I jumped into the car in FP1, even just one performance lap, I felt like I had to recover for two laps to be able to breathe normally.

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