McLaren says Alonso 'physically perfect'

The Spanish driver spent three nights under observation following his crash, but despite McLaren initially reporting he had suffered concussion, Dennis said on Thursday there were no actual evidence that that was the case.

He admitted Alonso had lost consciousness and shown symptoms of concussion, but the scans showed he had no damage or brain swelling whatsoever.

Dennis insisted Alonso would be ready to race, although he would have to pass the mandatory FIA tests before the Australian Grand Prix, but that the decision was ultimately down to the doctors.

"He's not even concussed. The technical definition of a concussion is when you can see it in a scan," said Dennis on Thursday.

"The possibility is that the change of direction happened so fast that actually it was sort of like a whiplash of the brain.

"It didn't actually touch anything, didn't bleed, anything. It's a medical situation. I'm not trying to conceal anything, but it's not appropriate for me to talk about it.

"I'm just telling you the facts, and he is physically perfect.

"There is no damage whatsoever. No concussion, no anything. He's got the symptoms at one stage, but nothing that shows.

"He's pushing very hard to get in the car, and he's saying 'I want to test, I want to test'. The parents said we are taking him home with us."

Dennis said Alonso's memory loss was not abnormal after crashes like his.

The McLaren chief insisted there was no indication that the car had suffered any technical problems leading to the accident, and that it felt confident in sending Jenson Button out to test today.

"We have complete conviction in the fact that our data does not show car failure, which would be more concerning to us," Dennis said.

"When we put Jenson in the car today, we didn't have any concerns."