Fernando Alonso will not race in this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix on medical grounds following his horror crash at the Australian Grand Prix earlier this month.
The Spaniard’s car slammed into the track wall in Melbourne at 200 mph after colliding with Esteban Gutierrez’s machine before barrel rolling twice.
The wreckage landed upside down on the gravel — but although 34-year-old Alonso emerged unscathed, he has not recovered sufficiently to be able to take part in the race in Sakhir.
A statement released Thursday by the world motorsports governing body, the FIA said: “Following an examination undertaken this morning at the Bahrain International Circuit Medical Center, it has been decided that McLaren Honda F1 team driver Fernando Alonso should not take part in this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
“Two sets of chest CT scans were compared and it was decided that there was insufficient resolution of the signs to allow him to compete on safety grounds.
“A repeat chest scan has been requested before the Chinese Grand Prix, and the results will be considered before allowing him to race there.”
Speaking to F1.com ahead of the race, Alonso had said he was looking forward to returning to the track after his crash in Australia.
“I’ve spent some time resting, and I can’t wait to get back in the car,” Alonso enthused. “Although on paper Melbourne wasn’t a great race for us, before the crash I’d been having some good battles and the car felt pretty promising, so I hope in Bahrain we can experience more of the same.”
Earlier, Alonso said he was lucky to be alive, adding: “I am thankful to be here. It was a scary moment and a scary crash.
“When I stopped, I saw a little space to get out of the car and I went out quickly just to make sure that my mum, who was watching the race on TV at home, could see that I was OK.”
Writing on Twitter, he said he was “aware that today I spent some of the luck remaining in life.”
He also posted an Instagram photograph of him reading a newspaper headlined: “Luckiest man alive.”
Alonso said of the incident: “You are just flying and then you see the sky, the ground, the sky, the ground.
“I didn’t know where I was because I was so far from the track. You want to stop, and it doesn’t stop. It keeps going and going and going.”