Alonso:'We definitely had a steering problem' in accident as inconsistencies emerge

Fernando Alonso, who has been given the all clear to race at the Malaysian Grand Prix after passing FIA fitness tests at Sepang Circuit this morning, has insisted that there was "definitely a steering problem" with his McLaren-Honda in the moments before the testing accident that ruled him out of the first race of the season.

The Spaniard picked holes in many aspects of the official McLaren version of events regarding what happened to cause his testing accident and what he went through afterwards. Although his story remained consistent throughout his statements in the FIA press conference this afternoon at Sepang, it was not consistent with many aspects of what McLaren and its boss Ron Dennis has said since the accident.

This morning at Sepang Circuit the Spaniard underwent a series of psychometric tests at the Medical Centre under the supervision of FIA Medical Delegate Jean-Charles Piette and the Chief Medical Officer of the Malaysian Grand Prix Dr Mohd Zin Bin Bidin as well as impact test to check his reaction times and was subsequently passed fit to face. Alonso had already reportedly passed short and long-term memory checks and reflex tests carried out in Cambridge last week at the request of the FIA but needed to pass this morning's FIA tests at the circuit to be allowed to race.

Following the all-clear and commenting on the accident Alonso said: "Everything was more or less as a normal concussion, so I had this concussion, I went to the hospital. I went to the hospital in good condition. There is a time I don’t remember from two o’clock to six o’clock or something like that but everything again was normal due to the medication that they give you to go into the helicopter and to do some tests in the hospital."

Alonso also denied press reports that he had suffered substantial memory loss following the accident.

"Everything was normal," he said. "I didn’t wake up in ‘95, I didn’t wake up speaking Italian or all these things that probably they were out there. I remember the accident and I remember everything that following day."

He went into detail about his actions before the accident, slowing the car down, downshifting from fifth gear to third, and even switching off the master switch for the ERS when he saw marshals approaching. He said that he only lost consciousness when given drugs in the medical centre prior to being loaded onto the medical helicopter.

Regarding the cause of the crash Alonso rubbished the suggestion from McLaren that it had been caused by wind, saying that "a hurricane" could not have blown the car off course at that speed and added that he is convinced the steering was the cause, even if McLaren's data does not show it: "Obviously with the team we have been very close working on that and with the FIA, they were very helpful all the times, and we were in close contact, all three parts constantly and yeah, there is not in the data anything clear that we can spot and we can say it was that, the reason.

"But definitely we had a steering problem in the middle of turn three. It locked into the right and I approached the wall I braked in the last moment, I downshift from fifth to third, and yeah, unfortunately on the data we are still missing some parts. Also the acquisition of date on that particular part of the car is not at the top so there are some new sensors here at this race and there are some changes we do on the steering rack and other parts and yeah that was the main thing. The last week at the factory was more a work on the simulator and trying to explain to me these new sensors and these new parts that will go on this race."

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