I watched FP2 on a Spanish stream this morning - Libre dos! The commentators were very keen to reassure viewers that Fernando will definitely be racing in Malaysia, though having watched the McLaren's performance, he might be wishing he'd signed for Sauber; well, everybody else has.
So Alonso now says he remembers everything and the crash was caused by the steering locking... So why have we only heard this today? Mclaren would surely know if the steering had locked
I'm now convinced alonso was also fine for Melbourne. Street circuits = walls to hit. You could have brake and steering failure at sepang and still not hit anything. McLaren have not covered themselves in glory here, neither have a lot of the press who toed the quite frankly ludicrous line.
Surprisingly McHonda and Alonso are saying the accident happened for different reasons and their explanations for the unconsciousness are different. Doesn't seem like Teamwork? Sounds like they have added strain gauges to the steering system as they had no data for driver steering input! So really McHonda have no idea if some weird aero effect happened to make the steering lock. Then again if it is wind related McHonda can claim on insurance to pay Alonso if steering then McHonda have to pay!!!
if Mclaren are trying to skip an insurance pay out then thats a new low. Funny how Alonso keeps having to show them up like this.
Lewis Hamilton has reportedly ‘demanded’ that F1’s governing body release more information about what caused Fernando Alonso’s crash in testing. According to The Sunday Telegraph, Hamilton ‘became increasingly agitated’ during Friday night's drivers’ briefing as he called upon the FIA to release its findings into the mysterious accident that resulted in Alonso spending three days in hospital and missing the season-opening Australian GP. The incident remains a burning topic of conversation in the paddock, with the debate into what precisely occurred on February 22 at Barcelona reignited on Thursday when Alonso flatly debunked McLaren’s version of events and claimed that the crash was caused by locked steering. ‘The Spaniard was also present in the briefing but is not thought to have responded to Hamilton’s comments. Charlie Whiting, the experienced race director, then took Hamilton to one side after the meeting to reassure the Mercedes driver there was no evidence the McLaren failed at the Circuit de Catalunya last month,’ reports The Telegraph. McLaren are yet to publicly respond to Alonso’s comments having previously cited ‘an unpredictable gust of wind’ as causing the crash. In an unscheduled interview with Sky Sports F1’s Ted Kravitz after qualifying in Malaysia, McLaren chief Ron Dennis said: “I think everybody was telling the truth and unfortunately people see a sinister side to that. We’re just telling the truth. "Fernando felt something wrong with his steering; I’m not going to disagree. We’ll just do a very thorough job, it’s what we did." The difficulty in reconciling Alonso’s version of events with McLaren’s insistence that they can detect no evidence of a car failure has heightened pressure on the FIA to publish its report into the accident. "It's clear that there was a problem in the car," said Alonso on Thursday. “Definitely we had a steering problem in the middle of Turn 3 – it locked to the right.” McLaren have repeatedly stressed, however, that telemetry from Alonso’s crashed car hasn’t revealed any indication of a mechanical failure. Commentating during Sky F1’s coverage of the Malaysia GP, Martin Brundle revealed: “I’m categorically told that if it did lock right, there is no sign on the torque sensor of any attempt to put any left lock on to counter a right lock. It does seem unusual if the steering locked and the driver didn’t attempt to counter steer.”
I know it's hot, but Alonso looked beat when he got out of that car after 20 laps. Anybody else notice that? I'm sure it's unrelated, but he just didn't look fit.
He looked more annoyed than anything. Things were going allright up until his retirement. he said afterwards he believed mclaren could have fought for points, unlikely, but that was his mentality. If anybody looked beat it was Rosberg. His face looked drained on the podium
His lack of fitness compared to the others was understandable as he has lost out on several weeks of training. Not sure how long the brave face will go on for unless McLaren can properly move up the field this year. He is a proven winner, believes he deserves better, so will not be happy if he has to spend a year driving round at the back or stepping out of broken McLarens.
