Alonso taken to hospital after test crash

2015 F1 season

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Fernando Alonso has been taken to hospital following a crash on the final day of the second test at the Circuit de Catalunya.

The McLaren driver’s car struck a wall at the fast turn three of the Spanish Grand Prix track.

The team has issued the following statement:

“Today at 12:35 CET, while testing at the Circuit de Catalunya (Barcelona), during the fourth and final day of the current test, Fernando Alonso’s McLaren-Honda car left the track at Turn Three, causing the right-hand side of his car to strike the wall.
 
“Fernando was driven to the circuit’s Medical Centre where the circuit’s doctors gave him first aid. He was conscious and spoke with the doctors. 

“However, as per usual procedure in such circumstances, he was then airlifted to hospital where he is undergoing precautionary checks.
 
“We will issue a further update in due course.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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42 comments on “Alonso taken to hospital after test crash”

  1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    22nd February 2015, 14:23

    Good to know he is feeling well. After what happened to Jules, I’m scared to see the chopper getting to the track, because having to use it makes the accident looks serious.

  2. Good to see this site sticks to the official statement and not the rumours.

  3. Vettel has told German media that he was behind Alonso & that Alonso was not going that quickly & suddenly seemed to drive off to the right. He didn’t spin, The car didn’t start to slide he just drive off to the right for no obvious reason.

    There’s also said to be suggestions at the track & in the Spanish media that Alonso passed out as he was exiting turn 3 which caused the crash & that he remained unconscious in the car before the medical team arrived at which point he regained consciousness & was able to talk to them.

    1. Wouldn’t be the first unwell driver we’ve had this week, if that turns out to be true.
      Surely the 2015 cars aren’t generating so much more G-force through the long turns here that it’s too much for the drivers to handle.

      Most important though, everyone’s hoping he’s fine. Even Kevin Magnussen.

      1. “Surely the 2015 cars aren’t generating so much more G-force through the long turns here that it’s too much for the drivers to handle.”

        They most certainly do, if the driver is not fully fit and well.

        1. If he headed out knowing he wasn’t fully fit and Button was available to take over (scheduled to drive in the afternoon, in fact) then it’s not the brightest thing Alonso’s ever done.

  4. Hope he’s ok, sounds like hospital visit is just precautionary – hope so.

  5. People in Spain are saying that he was electrocuted before the crash and that once he received the shock he lost control of the car and crashed. After that and once the doctors arrived to the scene they found him confused.

    1. If the rumour concerning an electrical shock turns out to be true, then somebody needs their P45 at McLaren. There can’t be any excuse for a half decent sparky getting the polarity wrong.

      1. Liam McShane (@)
        22nd February 2015, 15:17

        A driver cannot be electrocuted whilst in the car as they are not grounded. That’s why you often see drivers jumping out and away from the car when getting out after accidents. They do not want to touch the car and the ground at the same time.

        1. are you sure of this? do you know the electrical workings of the mclaren?

        2. They said that the electrocution was through. The steering wheel.,

          1. Only if the steering wheel had somehow lost its earthing connection, and the current was sufficient to arc though the driver’s gloves. Would seem very very unlikely.

        3. Yes you can get an electric shock inside a car, if you (accidentally) form part of an electrical circuit within the car. The KERS systems could well generate high voltages, and if there was an insulation failure somewhere this could have allowed a high voltage somewhere it was not expected on the electronic circuits. The drivers suit must be plugged into the electronics somehow for the radio system, and temperature monitors inside the suit.

    2. @forzaalonsof1 @motor_mad @mazdachris This is exactly why we should beware of rumour-mongering. What I have seen of the rumours you refer to claim an electric shock was involved. That is not the same thing as electrocution, as electrocution is fatal. So to be clear, there is only a rumour saying an electric shock took place, and that has not been verified.

      1. There doesn’t seem to be any basis to the rumour whatsoever. Not only is it highly implausible that he would receive a shock (the wheel would have to have lost its earth and had sufficient current to go through his gloves, which none of the systems on the wheel would have), there are hundreds of other, more reasonable explanations as to why he would have suddenly veered off. The Spanish press and Spanish F1 fans are notoriously sensationalist, especially when it involves Alonso.

        1. Not worst than the English press. Those are by far the most sensationalist in the world. It is funny how many people know it all here. Last but not least Alonso was unconscious at least 10 minutes after the accident. When he gained some consciousness he was confused.look at the pictures of the car,there was minimal damage if any. Vetted even said that Alonso was going slow and suddenly he went to the right and crash. Last but not least he is supposed to spend the night in the hospital.

  6. Also the car damages are minimal. That would explain the reason for the crash. An electrical shock through the steering wheel

  7. I just hope he’s fine, we have already seen Raikkonen getting out of his car in Silverstone after a 47G impact, Alonso himself did manage a 28G impact in Abu Dhabi. This incident is really strange

    1. Report is that he suffered a greater than 15G in today’s accident. I am afraid that today’s hit, coupled with that from Abu Dhabi might have influenced the dizzy condition of Alonso.
      Wish him the best.

  8. Alonso has had a CT Scan & been given the all clear.

    1. Thanks for that update @StefMeister, but is that reliable information?

      1. @pt Yeah, Was mentioned on Sky Sports News & there’s now also an article on Autosport which says the same.

        http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/117773

        1. Yup, saw that. Thanks for the update @StefMeister

  9. I think that this test was the “hilarious” one Jenson predicted 13 months ago…

    1. Think about it; we’ve seen more crashes here than Maldonado at a race weekend, and that’s saying something.

  10. McLaren Honda is really having a winter to forget…it just seems to get worse and worse and worse…but the fact that Alonso was 5th fastest before the crash gives some encouragement. Let’s hope he is fine…

  11. If the rumors that Alonso got electrocuted are true…oh dear, this is truly awful. Thankfully he wasn’t going that fast, otherwise he might’ve been seriously hurt. Imagine if this happened just as the car has reaching over 300kph down the main straight.

  12. Could be the MGU-K somehow involved here?!

  13. Until someone shows me a picture of the danger-light on Alonso’s car as he was going off, I’ll just presume that the “electric shock” theory is ill-thought-out baseless sensationalist fanboy nonsense. Much more likely that it’s down to something biological, and they sent the invaluable asset to hospital because they wanted to be sure about what went wrong with him.

  14. I wonder if they will ever reveal the real reason for Fernando losing consciousness !!
    Some serious problems with the car electronics?

    1. There’s no evidence he lost consciouness

      1. I am tempted to draw this conclusion from Vettel’s views of the acccident and the way the car scrapped the walls

      2. There’s a named witness at the scene saying Alonso did not respond to repeated taps to the helmet by the medical team.

        http://motor.as.com/motor/2015/02/22/formula_1/1424616059_835484.html

        Both that photographer and Vettel have commented on the low speed of the impact.

        1. Doesn’t take much, in fairness. Even a low speed accident can generate high G forces. By the sounds of it, it was a bit of a thump with the wall, he’s bumped his head and is now concussed. May well have been knocked out for a few minutes. Would explain the latest statement saying he’s concussed and staying in hospital overnight. Don’t think there’s any big conspiracy, just one of those things really.

          1. Exactly…a low speed accident…Alonso isn’t a rookie…he doesn’t have low speed accidents for no reason…that is why there is a consiracy theory going around…the accident, which McLaren won’t talk about, seems very odd…I thought it might have been his suspension or something mechanical that broke…I am sure McLaren would have been happy to say that…they didn’t even say that they would be analysing the data to figure out why…of course they will…but it will not be in the public domain. Accidents happen for sure…and I am sure they are not very happy about it either.

  15. Has anyone had as much bad luck as Fernando? More recently the move to Mclaren from an improved Ferrari to this.

    1. seriously … ever since his move from McLaren he has been ridden with bad luck .. it all stated with him refusing the dive with red bull and moving to his safe haven “renault”

  16. Wheter it is a failure, a driver error, the wind or an electric shock, he seems ok and that’s great. Keeping him in the hospital is a good idea, his duties are finished anyway.

  17. Electrocuted? Nop he was dizzy because of the bang. 10 minutes unconcious because of the impact. Nobody talking of electricity at least here in the local press media in spain.

  18. There was not concussion. Alonso most likely suffered a electric shock.Look at the picture where the mclaren engineers are recovering the car. The mclaren mechanics are wearing gloves,which clearly show that there was something wrong with the car and they were afraid of an electric shock or something. Also there was a photographer who took the pictures of the accident and he said that Alonso was unconscious for at least 10 minutes and that he didn’t respond to the slaps the rescue workers were giving to his helmet. Also it is quite clear that button did not go out because the team neither didn’t know what happened nor they wanted to risk button. So for that reason they concluded their test at that moment. Last but not least vetted was behind Alonso and he said that Alonso was going slow when he crashed. Also the damages to the car were not extensive. Only a few parts were damaged.

  19. Alonso almost never,never,never crashes. He is probably the least prone to have a crashed caused by him.

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