Fernando Alonso spent Sunday night in a Spanish hospital following his test crash and looks set to spend a second night in intensive care, leading to rumours his accident was more serious than is being officially reported.
McLaren described his 150kph (93mph) crash as “a normal testing accident” and even addressed some of the wild rumours which abounded immediately after, calling them “exaggerated”.
Sebastian Vettel, who was following Alonso at the time, described it as “strange”, but the Spaniard’s manager, Garcia Abad, agreed that it was just an unfortunate accident.
“He is well and I don’t think there will be any problems,” he said on Sunday evening. “The impact was quite strong but fortunately it was nothing. He was conscious and able to speak.”
Some of the rumours suggest the 33-year-old was electrocuted by the Honda ERS unit or that he was unwell before the test and shouldn’t have been driving.
Abad denied that was the case though and called the reported causes “speculation” until McLaren gives an official reason – which has yet to do.
“I deny that Fernando was feeling unwell prior to the incident,” he added. “The car had grip, there was tremendous wind and he went into the wall. The rest is speculation.
“The car telemetry has stated that he was correcting from left to right. Fernando was hitting the brake and changing gears until the moment of impact.”
The hospital is due to confirm whether Alonso will remain in IC for a second night following further tests or whether he will be discharged later in the day.
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