Fernando Alonso will not participate in the final pre-season test following his crash on Sunday, McLaren has confirmed.
Alonso has left the hospital where he spent the last three nights following his crash at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Kevin Magnussen will substitute for Alonso during the four-day test which begins tomorrow.
A statement issued by McLaren said Alonso “has returned to his family’s home in Spain for further rest and recuperation”.
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MazdaChris (@mazdachris)
25th February 2015, 13:57
Great to see he’s finally gone home. Think it was pretty obvious he wasn’t going to make the final test. Despite the fact I absolutely do not ascribe to any of the wild conspiracy theories which have been posted here and elsewhere over the past few days, it does seem clear that Alonso suffered something a little more serious than just a mild concussion. Now let me make myself perfectly clear that I’m not implying that I believe he was shocked, fainted, had a stroke, was abducted by aliens, or anything else; simply that the head injury he suffered may have been a little more serious than it first appeared.
I do wonder whether there may be a general safety issue which needs looking at by the FIA. We’ve seen over the past decade or so, that the wishbones on the cars (which seem to deform perfectly well when under a sheering force) seem to stand up to quite robust lateral blows without damage – think about banging the walls at Monaco and Canada. From what McLaren have told us, it seems that the impact was strong enough to destroy the wheel upright, but the winshbones remained in tact. Perhaps the teams are deliberately engineering the wishbones to remain undamaged when subjected to moderate lateral impacts, so the car isn’t taken out of a race by banging up against walls or other cars. If this is the case (and it really is just mere speculation) then it’s possible we could see this kind of injury again, unless there are new impact tests brought in by the FIA. I think if nothing else, it’s worth them investigating to see whether there is scope to improve the safet of these cars.
Graham (@guitargraham)
25th February 2015, 14:11
former wwe wrestler chris nowinski has done a lot of work on the study of concussions and the cumulative effect of multiple incidents. it could just be that even small incidents for alonso are quite bad due to his previous concussion history and if thats the case it might not take too many more to force him to stop driving altogether
MazdaChris (@mazdachris)
25th February 2015, 14:16
It’s certainly possible. I just think as a general point of principle, whenever a driver is injured when driving an F1 car, the exact circumstances of the incident and the injury should be thoroughly investigated and understood by the FIA, in case it highlights a potential safety issue which needs to be addressed. Maybe this is done anyway, I’m not sure.
caci99
25th February 2015, 14:52
That’s what I fear the most, repetitive concussions. I remember that vertical blow of around 25G he had in Abu Dhabi, and the fact that Alonso himself feared something about his spine after he got of the car … he must have really felt it pretty hard the hit.
Hans (@hanswesterbeek)
25th February 2015, 14:15
I am no medical expert, but to me three days of rest doesn’t sound abnormal for a concussion. In mclarens releases it has been said that Alonso stayed in hospital just because he could get some rest there, relatively protected. That does not mean that he needed an awful lot of care or medication during the last days.
So, to me he just suffered a concussion, like people who fall from steps or chairs in home accidents do.
MazdaChris (@mazdachris)
25th February 2015, 14:21
You could well be right, of course. I’ve known a few people who have had concussion and they have been discharged from hospital within 24 hours of being admitted, and my understanding (admittedly hazy as it is!) is that someone would normally only be kept in for longer if they were showing ongoing symptoms. But of course, that’s talking about normal members of the public in NHS hospitals, not a sportsman who is also a national hero, in what I’m assuming is a medical institution which has been paid to provide the absolute highest levels of care possible. Maybe they just didn’t want to be forever known as the hospital that discharged Alonso 12 hours before he died from undiagnosed bleeding on his brain. Or maybe they just enjoyed having him around and he was happy to rest up for a few days.
But generally speaking, people usually only stay in hospital for several days because there’s a danger that they may still need urgent treatment.
Hans (@hanswesterbeek)
25th February 2015, 15:17
Him being a racing driver, a celebrity, and a relatively rich person – that has certainly got to do with it.
Anyway, people who’ve had a (mundane) concussion are usually discharged after one night, but they are not advised to step into a 850bhp racing car I guess :) So, Alonso bailing out of the next winter test does not say that his concussion is anything worse than average Joe’s.
Sam Andrew
25th February 2015, 14:19
A wishbone is not going to absorb much energy in an accident, they’re not part of the crash structure, they should instead be looking at making the track safer; a concrete wall is never going to be a comfortable thing to crash into.
Pseudonym
25th February 2015, 14:59
Alonso’s accident seems very similar to Perez’s at Monaco in 2011. There are several similarities: Perez also hit the wall side-on, suffered a concussion, and had to stay in hospital for multiple days. He then had to miss the Canadian GP two weeks later because, after he participated in practice, he decided that he didn’t feel well enough to race yet.
It highly unlikely it had any permanent impact on his driving ability because in the following season in 2012 he actually performed better relative to Kobayashi than before, in what was his best season to date, scoring 3 podiums including almost winning in Malaysia.
grat
25th February 2015, 15:08
Except that Perez’s accident, if I recall, was after losing traction on the way down to the chicane after exiting the tunnel– one of the highest speed sections on the track.
Alonso’s accident was a relatively low-speed “ran wide and grazed the wall” incident.
Eric (@fletch)
25th February 2015, 15:38
But remember Perez hit a tire wall and Alonso hit concrete
Hans (@hanswesterbeek)
25th February 2015, 15:20
I see the similarities with Perez ’12. Very striking comparison, indeed. But to mee it seems unlikely that most forces working on Alonso’s car were directed straight at the wall, but rather in the direction of the racing line. In Perez’ case, all was directed towards the wall. Also, if Alonso lost control at 150kph, he sure hit the wall at a significantly lower speed than Perez did, who was doing about 200 if I recall correctly (or was that Button?)
lockup (@)
25th February 2015, 13:57
Well it’s good he’s been discharged, that’s one thing I think I can be sure about.
Peter L
25th February 2015, 15:55
But is he any safer at home? Ron Dennis can still get at him.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
25th February 2015, 14:08
This way Magnussen can at least have some mileage with the ’15 car. Would be surprised to see him do any more after that though. He’s following Frijns right into oblivion.
Hans (@hanswesterbeek)
25th February 2015, 14:18
I just heard that manor has a vacancy for 2015. Maybe an option for one of these two chaps?
No, surely, it has to be another pay driver. Too bad Maldonado and Ericsson are already hired somewhere else.
BasCB (@bascb)
25th February 2015, 15:44
Well, maybe if McLAren are willing to put him in there in exchange for the outstanding bills for the common ECU and/or the ones for this year @hanswesterbeek! That would be some 15-25 million if I recall from the information about whom Marussia/Manor owe what amount of money.
Mashiat Lam Gofran
25th February 2015, 14:16
Oh dear, this is a nightmare start for Alonso. Going into Melbourne, he’ll barely have driven 100 laps, let alone at over 80% power. I possibly expect Jenson to beat him in the first race due to having more experience in the car and of the feel of the Honda PU.
Strontium (@strontium)
25th February 2015, 14:30
I wouldn’t count Alonso out. He has being going for years and has always been regarded as one of the best in the F1 field. While this isn’t good, he isn’t a rookie and this should only be a minor setback for him.
Bear in mind whichever of the two teammates beats the other will depend on them both completing the race, and numerous other factors.
LexBlair (@lexblair)
25th February 2015, 14:45
As of right now Jensen has ridicolously little milage.. Quite much less than Fernando! Let’s see if he can catch up to Alonso first… For all we know he could draw the shorter end of the stick again. I doubt he’ll manage much more than Fernando.
With that said, I do expect Jensen to come out on top in Australia… Watching the pre-season tests, he usually seemed to get more out of the car.
LexBlair (@lexblair)
25th February 2015, 14:48
^^ argh, spelling.. Gotta refrain from commenting when I am mobile. I always forget that we don’t have an edit button here and do not double-check.
Mashiat2 (@mashiat2)
26th February 2015, 4:24
@lexblair How do you know that he gets more out of the car than Alonso?
joe jopling (@jop452)
25th February 2015, 20:04
We are assumimg that the cars last in Austrailia……..but it would not surprise me if Alonso missed the first race if still not 100%
Park
25th February 2015, 14:20
Hope this accident will not end his peak.
floring (@floring)
25th February 2015, 14:34
No biggie for the car, but Fernando spends 3 nights in hospital as a precaution. And skips last testing session as an additional precaution, even though the team is in serious need of his input, as it managed worryingly few km of testing.
Regular accident, I guess, just as Eric said. Must have been a gust of wind.
Maybe a better informed person than myself could tell us: is McLaren in talks for a sponsorship deal these days?
Hans (@hanswesterbeek)
25th February 2015, 15:21
What do you mean? Do you think a Barcelona private clinic would be interested in sponsoring McLaren?
floring (@floring)
26th February 2015, 0:42
Either that or a wind turbine manufacturer.
Tony Hamilton (@tonybananas)
26th February 2015, 13:52
Or Bacofoil
Craig Woollard (@craig-o)
25th February 2015, 14:41
It’s the sensible thing to do. He should be 100% for Melbourne if he rests so I don’t see why McLaren should risk further harm to him when they have a perfectly good Magnussen sitting on the sidelines.
BasCB (@bascb)
25th February 2015, 15:46
Yeah, If we think back to how Perez wanted to get back in in Canada 2012 but then had to give up (after his Monaco crash), its a good precaution to let him rest another couple of weeks to be completely fit for the season opener @craig-o.
Rish ap Wiliam
25th February 2015, 14:50
From what I’ve seen about the way the car hit the wall and how tight it is in the cockpit these days, wouldn’t surprise me if his head moved violently side to side which would have a much more profound effect on the brain.
If I were him I wouldn’t rush back to drive an unfinished car another, albeit freak, accident.
Wouldn’t surprise me if he missed Melbourne as well if the car doesn’t do better in the second test in Barca, but I hope he’s there as he’s one of the few that will wring the max out of any car.
Alec Glen (@alec-glen)
25th February 2015, 15:24
It can take weeks and longer to recover from concussions, I have 2 players (American Football) currently going through the protocol that 3 weeks in are still not cleared to practice for instance. With Alonso the doctors need to ensure that if he tests again next week and has an accident, is his brain ready to deal with that trauma without risking further damage? Clearly they’ve decided not in his case which doesn’t sound particularly unusual due to the risk of a second-impact concussion which are highly dangerous.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
25th February 2015, 15:50
Now that’s a blow, hope he’ll recover fully and quickly!
Colossal Squid (@colossal-squid)
25th February 2015, 18:00
It seems McLaren really can’t catch a break going into this season. Alonso will be going into this season with a paltry amount of mileage done in the car, in a team he hasn’t raced for since 2007. If anyone on the grid can overcome such adverse conditions and adapt it’s Alonso, but still it’ll be very interesting to see his demeanour and hear his comments to the press come Melbourne if he’s in a car that’s nowhere near ready to race as is the case now.
Broke84 (@broke84)
25th February 2015, 19:55
Does anyone remember when perez crashed through the Nouvelle chicane at Monaco and ended up missing the next race although he seemed fine?
I had a head injury 12 years ago, admittedly I had a broken jaw as well as concussion but I was only in hospital 3 nights. Helmet or not, it is no wonder they decided to rest Alonso if the crash was enough to knock him out. It may have seemed like nothing, car looking ok etc but the same could have been said when you look at Earnhardt snr’s fatal crash. Only the team and driver know the severity so speculation seems pointless.
Christopher (@twiinzspeed)
25th February 2015, 20:53
Hope Alonso heals quickly. I have experienced concussions a couple of times. My last one was about a year and a half ago. I fell in my garage and bounced my head off a concrete floor. I experienced double vision for almost a month and continued to have balance and vision issues for almost 4 months. Everyone is different, but concussions are nothing to play with. I am a curious about the HAANS device most racers use now. I have worn them during track days but have never wrecked with one on. I wonder if they are as effective going side to side as they are front to back….
wificats (@wificats)
25th February 2015, 22:12
The HANS device does not really protect against side impacts. That’s the job of the foam headrest which sits either side of the driver’s helmet.
Raúl Valencia (@rvalencia)
25th February 2015, 22:08
Hope he is going to be 100% well aand ready on Melbourne then. This guy, giving uncompetitive Ferraris podiums and wins, performed some of the most majestic espectacles of the current motorsport world. He will surely give the current McLaggard-Honda some good points.