McLaren’s official statement on Alonso’s crash

After suffering a heavy crash during the second winter testing at Barcelona, McLaren-Honda has stayed mysterious and calm about the state of health of their star driver, Fernando Alonso. However, the team’s leader Eric Boullier explained now what has happened to the two-time world champion.

Due to the lack of information, wild media reports emerged about the potential cause of the accident and its consequences. Some suggested that the crash was actually not the cause of Alonso’s injuries, but it was rather the consequence of a disorder and an anomaly which affected the driver while circulating on the track.

Boullier denied that Alonso was in a highly agitated state and described the crash as a normal one.

“It was just a normal concussion [with] a loss of temporary memory," Boullier told Sky Sports F1. "It's not as dramatic as you read in the media. Everything is back to normal."

Boullier also defended his team’s communication since the crash by saying that it is not McLaren’s responsibility and competence to clear the crash up.

"It's a private matter," said Boullier. "It's up to Fernando and his doctors to decide what they want to say."

Alonso was sidelined for the season opener at Melbourne as his doctors warned him that a second impact could have more serious consequences. The Spaniard is said to be very frustrated by not being able to the kick the season off as the curtains fall for the first time in the new season. His determination stayed intact as he has already been training for a few days and will conduct a test session in McLaren’s simulator to learn the team’s technical progress during the course of the last weeks.

"He's very frustrated not to be in the car but he will be connected to us through all the debriefs by video link," said Boullier. "When you have a concussion, you have to respect a 21-day recovery period. The doctors have given us their advice and a strong recommendation which we are following."

Fernando Alonso could debut in Malaysia on 29 March at the second race of the 2015 season.