“Not Having an Appendix Saves You 2 Tenths a Lap”: Trend-Setter Carlos Sainz Has Lando Norris Following Him Too as F1 Insider Jokes About the Win

Carlos Sainz absolutely smashed it out of the (Albert) park with his Australian GP performance. Sainz has already proved he’s a race winner on two occasions ever since he put on the heavy red suit. However, as we all know, the Australian GP in particular was a difficult race for the Ferrari man who made his comeback after a two-week bed rest from his appendix surgery. As it turns out, that turned out to be the secret formula to a race win.

Sainz was diagnosed with appendicitis during the Saudi Arabian GP race weekend and had to sit the race out. The Spaniard had to spend time in bed recovering from his surgery without training in the weeks leading up to the race. He made an appearance on the track in Jeddah on race day after his surgery, putting faith in his return in time for the Australian GP. This scenario made his race win that extra bit special.

Now, his old McLaren teammate Lando Norris believes this is the way to go. Norris proved he might just get his appendix removed in the hunt for his first race win with an Instagram post with Sainz with the caption, “Gonna go get my appendix removed. Apparently, you do it and you win a race soooooo…. congrats Carlitos.”  

Now this is becoming common knowledge as Matt Gallagher also holds the same opinion, which he expressed on the Sky Sports F1 podcast. When asked to reveal his learnings from the 2024 Australian GP, Gallagher confessed, “What I’ve learnt is that apparently not having an appendix saves you around two-tenths a lap. So Carlos obviously setting a trend here for the grid.” 

Now the gird has the secret to unlocking an extra 2-tenths, we wonder who will be exercising this option. Jokes apart, the comeback after surgery is nothing short of an achievement and it wasn’t down to luck. Sainz revealed the hard work he put into his recovery.

Carlos Sainz reveals the steps he took to speed up his recovery

An appendix surgery is fairly routine as many adults get it removed if and when necessary. However, not many have to go on and race in one of the most difficult racing competitions on the planet with the fastest cars which make you experience up to 6Gs for two hours.

Sainz thus had to take extra precautionary steps and make conscious efforts to speed up his recovery. Sainz revealed, “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?”  

“And obviously 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, internationally. And then I put together a plan with my team.”

The plan clearly worked and he reaped the benefits of his efforts in Australia with the added extra 2-tenths. A thorough professional, Carlos Sainz, ladies, and gentlemen.

Read More: Why Is Carlos Sainz’s Victory Good for $21 Billion Worth Formula 1?