MOTORSPORT: Oz crash takes delayed toll on Alonso

Fernando Alonso seemed to have survived his mega crash in the Australian Grand Prix on March 20 unscathed, but the dual world champion has been ruled unfit for this weekend’s second round of the Formula 1 World Championship.

It has emerged that Alonso suffered a pneumothorax – a partially collapsed lung – and broken ribs in the 285kmh crash in which he endured forces up to 46G.

Doctors from world motor sport’s governing body, the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), examined Alonso for 90 minutes on his arrival in Bahrain yesterday and would not clear him because of the risk of further lung damage.

The 34-year-old Spaniard still considered by many in the F1 paddock to be the world’s best driver also is in doubt for the Chinese GP in Shanghai in a fortnight.

His absence opens the way for 24-year-old Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne to make his debut in Bahrain in an all-new McLaren-Honda MP4-31 after Alonso’s wreck was a complete write-off.

Vandoorne was last year’s champion in GP2 – the series below F1 – and is the McLaren reserve driver.

He rushed from Japan to Bahrain overnight to replace Alonso.

McLaren admitted this week that the Melbourne crash, which began when Alonso collided with Mexican Esteban Gutierrez’s Haas-Ferrari and saw the Spaniard roll through the air before ending upside down against the safety fence at turn three – had cracked Alonso’s moulded seat.

“The fact that the seat cracked but was not broken means it did its job well,” a McLaren spokesman said.

“It flexed helpfully, as it was designed to do, and it efficiently absorbed a lot of the energy of the accident.”

The FIA said its chest scans on Alonso in Bahrain “showed insufficient resolution of the signs to allow him to compete” this weekend.

It is the second time in just over a year that Alonso has been forced to miss a GP on medical grounds – he sat out last year’s season-opener in Melbourne after a heavy crash in pre-season testing, which he said last month had been the result of a steering failure.

In Melbourne 12 days ago he climbed out of the wreck without assistance and, while clearly shaken, was released from the medical centre at the Albert Park circuit after precautionary checks.

Alonso said that pain in his chest increased in the following days.

“I am recovered from the pneumothorax, but the rib is too fresh and it could be a potential problem,” he said.

“I have no respiratory problems.

“It is a small risk [to drive], but I understand they want no risk.

“It is just a question of time – it should be OK in the next 10 days, but there is no guarantee.

“There have 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.

“At the end of the day, the pain is manageable if you don’t think too much.

“[But] the doctors think it’s a risk. I understand.

“The risk is because in F1 there is a unique position in the car and with the G-forces the fracture could move into the lung as well.

“This is not a broken leg or a broken arm where you can deal with pain.

“I’m disappointed – obviously we want to race – [but] I respect the decision.”