ALONSO ESCAPES MONSTER SMASH

Fernando Alonso was able to walk away unharmed from an horrific crash with Esteban Gutierrez in the Australian Grand Prix.

The double champion clipped the back of the Mexican’s Haas when trying to pass him into the braking zone of Turn 3.

The impact sent the Mclaren flying through the air before it then rolled over after hitting the ground and clattered against a barrier.

Alonso was able to get out of the wreckage unaided and was given the all-clear by doctors at the circuit’s medical centre.

“I feel good,” said Alonso. “Obviously I’m trying to put everything in place again in my body. It was a big, big crash.

“I tried to take the slipstream of Gutierrez into the braking point, and it was a combination of factors that we ended up with a crash. I’m thankful for the safety of those cars and that I’m alive talking to you. This is the most important thing.

“You are not exactly aware where you are. You are just flying and then you see the sky, the ground, the sky, the ground and you don’t know.

“Everything [felt like it] happened slower than [it looked on] the outside. You want to stop and it doesn’t stop, it keeps going and going and going. It was quite scary.”

When asked who was to blame for the accident, Alonso said: “It’s a racing incident. We both tried to fight and sometimes we forget that we are at 200mph and every little crash can be much bigger.

“It’s disappointing because we start the championship with zero points and we’ve probably damaged the power unit so we have to take the second one immediately – but that’s not the most important thing.”

Gutierrez said his only concern had been that Alonso was alright.

“Thankfully we are alright. It was a very, very scary moment,” he said. “The first thing I saw in the mirror, I was really worried. I jumped out as quick as I could and ran to him. It was a really big relief he was OK.”

The stewards deemed the collision a racing incident and no action was taken.