Alonso Thankful Still Alive
Alonso Thankful Still Alive
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MELBOURNE - Fernando Alonso is lucky to walk out alive after a horrific crash left is McLaren car in pieces temporarily halting the Australian Grand Prix 2016.
The McLaren driver's car flipped twice before hitting a barrier after clipping the rear of Esteban Gutierrez of Haas at full speed at turn three of the Albert Park circuit on Sunday. The Spaniard will undergo medical checks after the frightening crash on lap 17 of 57.
The Spaniard somehow managed to walk away from the mangled wreckage and hoards of debris seemingly unharmed. Both he and Gutierrez were taken to the medical centre for assessment. The accident triggered a red flag, bringing the race to a halt.
Speaking the the BBC, Alonso was shocked and amazed at his luck to walk away uninjured.
"I feel good. It was a combination of factors and it ended up in a crash. But we are lucky we are both OK. For the safety of those cars is why I am alive - and the safety wall. I think it was a racing thing and sometimes we forget we are going 300km an hour," he said.
The season-opener was scheduled to resume just before 5pm. Stewards will investigate the incident after the race. Alonso missed the 2015 Australian Grand Prix following a crash during testing in Spain.
Race control said Alonso's contact with Gutierrez would be investigated but the Spaniard said neither driver was to blame.
"We were racing, I kept in the slip-stream as late as I could and at the last moment I tried to move. It's tough, you can only see the rear wing, you don't have the full view of the track. And same for him, he's defending and can't see what the other guy is doing. So we are both happy," said Gutierrez
It was a disappointing day all round for McLaren, with Alonso's team mate Jenson Button finishing 14th out of the 16 finishers.
But not long after Kimi Räikkönen was also forced to end his race early as he made a pit stop in Lap 23 to deal with a mechanical issue that saw fire coming out of his Ferrari car.
As he radioed over to his Ferrari team that there seemed to be an issue with the car, smoke was seen coming out of the engine cover.
The McLaren driver's car flipped twice before hitting a barrier after clipping the rear of Esteban Gutierrez of Haas at full speed at turn three of the Albert Park circuit on Sunday. The Spaniard will undergo medical checks after the frightening crash on lap 17 of 57.
The Spaniard somehow managed to walk away from the mangled wreckage and hoards of debris seemingly unharmed. Both he and Gutierrez were taken to the medical centre for assessment. The accident triggered a red flag, bringing the race to a halt.
Speaking the the BBC, Alonso was shocked and amazed at his luck to walk away uninjured.
"I feel good. It was a combination of factors and it ended up in a crash. But we are lucky we are both OK. For the safety of those cars is why I am alive - and the safety wall. I think it was a racing thing and sometimes we forget we are going 300km an hour," he said.
The season-opener was scheduled to resume just before 5pm. Stewards will investigate the incident after the race. Alonso missed the 2015 Australian Grand Prix following a crash during testing in Spain.
Race control said Alonso's contact with Gutierrez would be investigated but the Spaniard said neither driver was to blame.
"We were racing, I kept in the slip-stream as late as I could and at the last moment I tried to move. It's tough, you can only see the rear wing, you don't have the full view of the track. And same for him, he's defending and can't see what the other guy is doing. So we are both happy," said Gutierrez
It was a disappointing day all round for McLaren, with Alonso's team mate Jenson Button finishing 14th out of the 16 finishers.
But not long after Kimi Räikkönen was also forced to end his race early as he made a pit stop in Lap 23 to deal with a mechanical issue that saw fire coming out of his Ferrari car.
As he radioed over to his Ferrari team that there seemed to be an issue with the car, smoke was seen coming out of the engine cover.
(rnz)
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