'Lewis Hamilton fears he has long Covid after Hungarian GP exhaustion'

[Bram Hengeveld]

• F1 world champion says he has not fully recovered from virus
• ‘Everything got blurry on the podium,’ he said post-race

Lewis Hamilton believes he may still have not fully recovered from contracting Covid-19 after he experienced fatigue and dizziness at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The British driver finished third in a monumental effort to come back from last place at the Hungaroring – a position later raised to second when Sebastian Vettel was disqualified on a technicality – but admitted he fears he may be suffering from long Covid.

Source: The Guardian

 

[Benutzername]

I noticed that in the last few races he was often enormously out of breath and also usually stayed in his car longer than usual. In Hungary, he looked really bad on the podium - never seen him or any other driver like that. That was a worrying sight for sure.

I hope that he just had a bad day, otherwise it really puts things in perspective seeing a world class athlete months after his covid-infection with these strong after effects. That **** could be permanent.

I've also read some comments saying he is simulating it - come on, really?

 

[BrightCandle]

He is quite lucky compared to a lot of long haulers because he can continue to work. Quite a lot of them can't get out of bed or leave their homes and are in agonising pain all the time. There is no treatment, the vast majority are not recognised or accepted as ill by their doctors at all. So to an extent Lewis is super lucky, he has it extremely mildly to the point where he can not only work but do so at a high physical exertion level.

He hasn't said if he is suffering post exertional malaise from these big exertions but if he is suffering like that he needs to stop. There is one consistent thing about recovering from post viral conditions and ME/CFS that is consistent, those people rested and avoided PEM energy crashes. If he is suffering PEM he could be making himself worse and could end up severely disabled. I doubt any doctor will tell him this because its been denied for about 80 years now but many millions around the world suffer with these conditions of which long covid is just the most recent, some 8% of everyone who caught SARs still has ME/CFS to this day, they aren't going to get better.

Lewis may very well need to stop racing and training for the forseeable future to protect his life, post viral conditions can kill you if you push but in the short term there is a good chance if he suffers the days after race day he is in big trouble and likely needs to stop racing and training if he wants a decent chance of recovery.

 

[Antony Snook]

Yes he was exhausted after the race. But it is hard to say if this is covid related. Many people think the virus is over and are trying to bring back sports and restaurants. I fear this will push us backwards. As we find new strains of the virus. And may go back into a lock-down with no sports. Traveling all over the world as a athlete is not going to help cure this virus. There are to many people at these events. I know it is about money but lives are more important than dollars.

 

[davehenrie]

I tend to view Lewis as ever so petulant, but I was impressed with how he gutted out that award ceremony. He could have gotten his trophy and left. But he stayed, however weak, and tried not to steal the moment away from Ocon. Just as I don't think a younger Alonso would have defended a teammate as strongly as he did at Hungary, I don't think the Hamilton of the past would have even gotten up on the podium. New Eyes for me in regards to both of them.

 

[Terry Rock]

He struggled to hoist the champagne.
His hands started trembling and it was quite noticeable.

 

[BrainsBush]

Hopefully 'just' something else which is something short term so he can recover 100% during this summer break.
Long term is hard/not to combine with a topsport like F1. It asks a lot from these top athletes. We'll see after the break. Like I wrote in the F1 Hungarian topic he really looked very very exhausted and felt bad for him. Health above anything