Alonso sits out F1 opener

FERNA NDO A LONSO is to sit out the season-opening Formula One Grand Prix in A ustralia on advice from doctors.

A lonso sustained concussion following a heavy smash during the recent second preseason test in Barcelona, resulting in the Spaniard spending three days in hospital.

A lthough A lonso has made a full recovery and has been described as “asymptomatic”, his doctors believe it unwise for him to race in Melbourne so soon after the accident.

For the A lbert Park event on March 13-15, Jenson Button will now be partnered by reserve driver Kevin Magnussen, who competed for McLaren last season, with A lonso to return to the cockpit for the race in Malaysia on March 27-29.

A statement from McLaren read: “Having performed an exhaustive series of tests and scans — some of them as recently as yesterday evening — McLaren-Honda driver Fernando A lonso’s doctors have informed him that they find him asymptomatic of any medical issue; that they see no evidence whatsoever of any injury; and that they therefore describe him as entirely healthy from neurological and cardiac perspectives alike.

“However, Fernando’s doctors have recommended to him that, following the concussion he sustained in a testing accident at the Circuit de BarcelonaCatalunya on February 22, for the time being he should seek to limit as far as is possible any environmental risk factors that could potentially result in his sustaining another concussion so soon after his previous one, so as to minimise the chances of second-impact syndrome, as is normal medical procedure when treating athletes after concussions.”

Double world champion A lonso has returned to McLaren for this season after spending the past five years with Ferrari.