Alex Albon has given an outline of the work he has done leading up to the Singapore Grand Prix weekend after recovering from appendicitis.
The Williams driver required surgery on his appendix over the weekend of the Italian Grand Prix, after falling ill on Saturday morning.
Indeed, the surgery was a success but he suffered some post-anaesthetic complications, with him needing to be placed on a ventilator after respiratory failure.
Alex Albon's road to recovery
SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE - SEPTEMBER 29: Alexander Albon of Thailand and Williams attends the Drivers Press Conference during previews ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on September 29, 2022 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images,)
By the start of the new week following the Italian Grand Prix, though, Albon had made a swift improvement and was able to get back home to Monaco to finish his rehab, before then turning his attention to getting back fit and seeing if he'd be ready for the race in Singapore.
Indeed, speaking to the press on Thursday ahead of the event, he revealed the process he went through in getting to Singapore, and feeling ready enough to compete this weekend.
“I feel ready. I feel as fit as I can be - no pain," said Albon.
“We had a good week of training or two weeks almost to get back to where we are today. We're realistic and we know that we're coming to the most difficult race of the year. We do have to be mindful of that. But I feel good. I've been karting and it's felt OK.”
Expanding more on his recovery spell, Albon said:
“We treated it like a nine to five job, training and recovery basically throwing everything [at it] and day by day was getting better and better.
“Then obviously, we got to a point where the recovery was going really well. We sat long and hard to think about it. Shall we do it or not? I feel like I am ready.”
A tough Singapore test
SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE - SEPTEMBER 30: George Russell of Great Britain driving the (63) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W13 leads Alexander Albon of Thailand driving the (23) Williams FW44 Mercedes on track during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on September 30, 2022 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images,)
Albon has already been out on circuit this weekend with FP1 underway in Singapore, and he'll already have a better idea of how he is feeling in the car.
The test of the heat and humidity and the lengthy lap in Singapore makes for quite the challenging mix for the drivers, and that's even if they've not had appendicitis a matter of weeks ago!
Alex is a supremely fit athlete, though, and will be looking to build himself into the weekend and hopefully deliver a good performance on Sunday.
You can keep up to date with all the latest F1 news, rumours and results right here at Give Me Sport.