McLaren has confirmed that a gearbox problem was the cause of Fernando Alonso’s stoppage during the second practice session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Smoke poured from the rear of Alonso’s MCL32 as he rounded Turn 13 at the Baku City Circuit and the Spaniard radioed “engine, engine” as he eventually coasted to a halt at Turn 16.
However, McLaren confirmed that a Friday gearbox, with high mileage, was the root cause, as Alonso ended the session in 12th position.
"We tested a few things in FP1 and FP2, running with different levels of downforce, trying to get some useful information for tomorrow," said Alonso.
"Stoffel [Vandoorne] worked on tyres, running on high fuel, both of which will help us make some useful decisions about strategy.
“The track was tricky today – the Prime and Back-Up tyres lose some heat on the long straights, so when you get onto the brakes they suddenly lock up and you go straight on.
"We saw many cars going off today, mainly because everyone tries to find their limit on Friday. I think we’ll see fewer offs tomorrow, and even fewer on Sunday.
“I lost the last half hour of the second session, so I suppose tomorrow we’ll need to do some running on high fuel, to catch up with the programme."
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