Alonso given all-clear for F1 return after Australian Grand Prix horror crash
Fernando Alonso has been given the all clear to continue racing for McLaren, after his Australian Grand Prix ended in a horror crash.
Alonso was attempting to overtake the Haas of Esteban Gutierrez on lap 17 when he collected the Mexican’s left rear tyre and was sent careering into the wall, his car shredding as it skidded into the gravel trap and barrel rolled twice.
A demolished husk that had previously been Alonso’s car was left upside down, but the two-time world champion emerged unscathed – he was later labelled the “luckiest man alive” by Australian media.
With F1 heading to Bahrain in under a fortnight, Alonso remains as keen as ever to get back behind the wheel.
“The team doctor came and gave me the ‘ok’ to travel and, as I said, I feel good,” Alonso told Cadena Cope.
“I do not think I will have any problems going forward.
“My body is a little sore – as though I have been in a giant washing machine– but I have no marks or anything swollen.
“Within two or three days I will be back on the bike or something again.”
On the incident itself, Alonso added: “Sometimes you do not have the necessary precision, I saw a wheel jumping in the air and suddenly I was out of control.
“Once I entered the gravel I lost track of my position. I saw gravel, then the sky, then the gravel on top of the car.
“Whenever there is a major accident [the stewards] call us in to see what we can learn and what we would do differently in the future.
“You do not have the exact view as you did [in the cockpit]. On TV, it feels like watching another car, with another driver inside.”
Former F1 chief Max Mosley, who led the sport into its safety-conscious modern ways in the aftermath of Ayrton Senna’s death, painted a darker picture when quizzed on the impact.
When asked if Alonso would have survived 20 years ago, Mosley told Telegraph Sport: “I don’t think he would have.
“You wouldn’t know for sure without a detailed analysis but generally speaking those sorts of accidents resulted in serious injury or death. Happily that seems to have stopped now.
“There are still freak accidents, like Jules [Bianchi’s], but those sort of serious racing accidents, you do expect the driver to walk away. That wouldn’t have been the case 20 years ago.”
