McLaren engine partner Honda has confirmed that Fernando Alonso can continue to use the power unit fitted to his car during the Singapore Grand Prix at this weekend's Malaysian round.
Alonso was involved in a Turn 1 crash when the two Ferraris and Max Verstappen collided, taking Alonso out in the process and forcing his retirement from the race.
The Spaniard's McLaren suffered heavy damage and Honda feared his engine couldn't be salvaged, but F1 chief Yusuke Hasegawa says it has undergone a thorough check and has been cleared for use this weekend.
"We were concerned that it may have been irreparably damaged, but fortunately after a thorough check back at the factory we can confirm it is okay to be re-used," he said.
Alonso, who is on his ninth Turbocharger and MGU-H, seventh Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and MGU-K, sixth Energy Store (ES) and fifth Control Electronics (CE), should therefore escape a penalty this weekend and is therefore hoping to make up for Singapore this weekend.
"After Singapore, I’m already eager to get back into the car and hopefully make it further than the first corner in Malaysia!
"Of course, what happened was disappointing and it’s difficult to hide your frustration when you’re the victim of someone else’s incident. I felt we had the potential to be really competitive – one of our only opportunities of the year – and it’s a shame we couldn’t bring home the points to prove it, but these things happen.
"Sepang will be more difficult for us in terms of set-up since the straights require good straight-line speed and power, but this track is a mixture of a lot of different characteristics, so we’ll see how much we can make up on the slower-speed corners."
