Sainz canceled his scheduled media appearances on Wednesday due to illness.
He subsequently finished eighth in Thursday evening’s second free practice session, 0.628 seconds behind pacesetter Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin and three tenths behind Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc in fourth.
Following the practice, Sainz was spotted struggling to compose himself in the cockpit of his SF-24 before finally exiting.
The Spaniard admitted he had a “difficult 24 hours” and had to take it easy in practice due to his condition.
“Obviously a very difficult day after feeling sick,” Sainz explained. “The previous 24 hours have been challenging and difficult for me.
“Today was all about getting myself on track and learning as much as possible from the car without pushing too hard because I was still on the non-ideal side, but we were able to finish the schedule without incident.
“Hopefully, I’ll feel better tomorrow, even if I’m not 100%. But feeling better will help me to push harder and perform better on Saturday.”
Because of his condition, he declined to read too much into his short or long runs, believing that his high-speed blasts added to the day’s demands.
“Today it’s very difficult to read into lap times,” he said. “We will prepare everything and aim to have a good qualification.
