Fernando Alonso's crash at Australian Grand Prix

[bigbadbrother]

Really scary crash.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6pZ9TyQfqk

[Benney]

Dead video!

[bigbadbrother]

fixed........

[bigbadbrother]

GMM Newswire


The FIA has launched an investigation into Fernando Alonso's spectacular Melbourne crash, with insiders saying the Spaniard was lucky to survive.

Reports, including one in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, reveal the governing body's probe follows revelations Alonso's seat was actually broken as his McLaren-Honda flipped through the Albert Park gravel.

It is claimed Alonso's carbon-fiber seat broke at around shoulder height due to forces exceeding 46G, triggering the investigation as the FIA aims to learn from the accident for the future.

The report said the all-new rearwards-facing, ultra slow-motion camera that was made mandatory in 2016 will be fundamental to the study.

And Corriere della Sera concluded: "If the chassis of the McLaren-Honda can be repaired for Bahrain, Alonso will have a new engine installed because it was heavily damaged in Australia."

[bigbadbrother]

Adam Cooper

Fernando Alonso has been ruled out of the Bahrain GP as a result of injuries sustained in his Melbourne crash - and the former World Champion will be replaced by McLaren third driver Stoffel Vandoorne for the rest of the weekend.

Alonso complained of a swollen knee and sore ribs after the accident, and following an FIA medical examination in Bahrain on Thursday he was ruled out because of the latter. Last year he missed the Australian GP as a result of his Barcelona testing accident.

An FIA statement said: “Following an examination undertaken this morning at the Bahrain International Circuit Medical Centre, it has been decided that McLaren Honda F1 Team driver Fernando Alonso should not take part in this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix. Two sets of chest CT scans were compared and it was decided on safety grounds that there was insufficient resolution of the signs to allow him to compete on safety grounds.”

It added: “A repeat chest scan has been requested before the Chinese Grand Prix and the results will be considered before allowing him to race there.”

Vandoorne was in Japan for a Super Formula test when he got the news that he will be racing this weekend, and he duly rushed to the airport. He said on Twitter: “About to board for Bahrain, a bit earlier than expected but so much looking forward to it! Will do my very best for the team.”

“I respect the decision,” said Alonso. “I tried until the last moment to be able to race, at least to try in the practice. It has been some painful days at home. I was ready to go through this pain somehow in the car and make sure I could race, because at the end of the day the pain is manageable if you don't think too much probably.”

[bigbadbrother]

Adam Cooper

Fernando Alonso concedes that he may have to miss the Chinese GP as well as this weekend's event in Bahrain.

The Spaniard received a rib injury in his Melbourne accident, and the FIA medical team told him on Thursday that he would not be allowed to compete.

“We want to race,” he said of the decision for him to sit out the weekend. “We are competitors, drivers and we like competition, and we love the sport. So when you come here and you cannot even try it’s always sad, but it’s understandable and I respect the decision. I try until the last moment to be able to race, at least to try in the practice.

“There has been some painful days, with some pain at home, but I was ready to go through this pain somehow in the car and make sure I could race, because at the end of the day the pain is manageable if you don’t think too much probably and [with] the adrenaline of driving, but there are some other risks that the doctors they think. So it’s a risk management that I understand, to minimize everything is the logical thing to do, so a little bit sad for that but it’s the only way to go.”

Expanding on the details of his condition, Alonso made it clear that there were concerns about his ribs causing damage to his lungs.

“Last week I was OK Sunday - some knee pain but not big things. I had the green light from the doctors to leave the track, and everything was OK. On Monday, I had a little bit of overall pain but nothing too serious. I flew back. I arrived in Spain and the pain was similar or a little bit more, so we decided to do a proper check - a CT scan. I had a small pneumothorax [air pocket] on the lung. So we took the advice from the doctors to relax at home, and make everything come to normal, and we repeat the scan last Monday.

“The pneumothorax is gone more or less but I have some rib fractures, so because of that there are the risks of driving, because Formula One is a very unique sport, a unique position on the car, and the G-Forces that a fracture could move into the lung as well, so yeah, it’s not like a broken leg or broken arm, that you can deal with the pain, this is in the chest where some organs are there and we cannot do much more.

“I will recover. I am already recovering from the pneumothorax and the problem is that the rib is just too fresh, it’s still not completely ‘glued’, let’s say. This thing could be a potential problem, very very low risk, also I didn’t have any respiratory issues at any time, so the risks are very very small, but I understand that we all want zero risk. It’s just a question of time that the rib goes a little bit together and with that we will be OK. The next 10 days should be OK for this but we cannot guarantee; maybe ten, maybe five, maybe twelve. It’s just a normal rib.”

Alonso acknowledged that he might not make the next race in Shanghai.

“Well, you know, it’s not 100 percent. There will be another test that I need to do in the next eight or ten days and after that test the FIA will evaluate again, as they did now. First of all is the safety and then the performance, so hopefully everything is OK but it's something we need to see with the next test.”