SEPANG, MALAYSIA // Fernando Alonso has sought to clarify the situation around the crash that forced him to miss the season-opening race in Australia, saying he never lost consciousness or had memory lapses as a result of the accident.
Alonso moved from Ferrari to McLaren at the end of last season, but confusion after a winter-testing crash in Barcelona last month left him facing many questions about the incident on his return ahead of this week's Malaysian Grand Prix.
“Everything was like a normal concussion,” Alonso said on Thursday, hours after passing tests at the Sepang International Circuit that gave him the green light to mark his return to a team with whom he raced for one campaign in 2007.
“I went to the hospital in good condition and there is a time that I don’t remember for about four hours, but that was normal due to the medication they gave me to go into the helicopter.
“I didn’t wake up in 1995. I didn’t wake up speaking in Italian or any of the states that were reported. I remember the accident and all the things from the following days.”
The cause of the crash remains a mystery to the driver and his team, but the two-time world champion was certain the blame could be laid upon a steering issue.
“There is nothing clear in the data that we can spot and say ‘it was that’, but we definitely had a steering problem in the middle of Turn 3,” he said.
“It locked to the right. I approached the wall and applied the brakes at the last moment and down-shifted from fifth to third gear, but there are still some missing parts on the data we have acquired about what exactly happened.”
Alonso played down one of the early theories that a strong gust of wind had caused the accident and said the area of the crash had not helped the situation.
“There was no gust of wind; even a hurricane would not move the car,” he said.
“Honestly, with the accident being in Spain it got a lot of attention that day, and some of the first answers the team gave at the initial press conferences were just guessing at what caused the accident.”
Alonso said he was able to recount the crash in minute detail but added that the incident did not make him fear for his future and that he had no regrets about moving to a team struggling at the back of the field with its new Honda engine.
“I am not afraid,” he said. “It’s a very normal thing. I felt ready to go to Australia, but the doctors said it was too early so we waited for one more race.
“I am one of the happiest people in the world. Really, I have a tough challenge ahead of me. It is difficult but will taste better when we do it.”
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