MCLAREN star Lando Norris was forced to return to the UK for scans on bruises picked up during the opening Grands Prix of the Formula 1 season.

In racing to a first-ever podium in Austria, followed by a stirring rally to fifth last weekend, the young Brit was bashed around by the severe G forces experienced at 200 miles per hour.

Norris saw a specialist back home during the week before jetting off to this weekend's race in Hungary.

And he explained that being away from his F1 car for so long, during the lockdown period, was behind his troubles.

The 20-year-old told reporters: "I went back to the UK in the last few days, remaining in my bubble, to go and see some specialists and get scans and so on.

"It’s not something that’s going to heal completely overnight but I’m much better than what I was last weekend.

"It’s just bruising from being out of the car for so long basically, being out of a Formula 1 car for so long, and then getting back into it and going straight into a race weekend, doing so many laps.

"It wasn’t something I could really prepare for or know about until after we did the first weekend.

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"Having a few days off in between, it then hit my body a few days later and I was a bit bruised."

There had been paddock rumours that a rib-rattling bear hug from McLaren boss Zak Brown was behind the pain Norris was suffering.

However, after remarking that it was due to a broken heart in a joke about being dumped, the racer insisted he should be fine for the upcoming Hungarian GP.

He added: "I’m alright for now. It’s hard to know until I’m in the car and I’m pushing it to the limit again, but for now everything is good."

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