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McLaren confirm Alonso to miss first GP of the season

Xinhua, March 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

Spanish Formula 1 driver, Fernando Alonso will miss the first race of the season as a result of the crash he suffered nine days ago during pre-season practice in Barcelona it was confirmed on Tuesday.

The two-times World Champions had to spend three days in hospital after his car crashed into a wall at 150 mph. Although he was allowed home earlier this week, doctors have advised him not to drive in the Australian Grand Prix on March 15.

"Having performed an exhaustive series of tests and scans -- some of them as recently as yesterday evening -- McLaren-Honda driver Fernando Alonso's doctors have informed him that they find him asymptomatic of any medical issue; that they see no evidence whatsoever of any injury; and that they therefore describe him as entirely healthy from neurological and cardiac perspectives alike," confirmed his McLaren team in a press statement, which explained the risks of the Spaniard suffering another accident so soon after suffering concussion.

"Fernando's doctors have recommended to him that, following the concussion he sustained in a testing accident at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on 22 February, for the time being he should seek to limit as far as is possible any environmental risk factors that could potentially result in his sustaining another concussion so soon after his previous one, so as to minimize the chances of second-impact syndrome, as is normal medical procedure when treating athletes after concussions."

"Fernando has understood and accepted that advice, and the two McLaren-Honda cars will therefore be driven in Australia by Fernando's team-mate Jenson Button and the team's test and reserve driver Kevin Magnussen," confirmed McLaren, adding the driver respected his doctors' advice, something he confirmed on his twitter account, by posting "a second impact in less than 21 days .. NO."

Second-impact syndrome happens when the brain can swell rapidly and sometimes fatally when a person suffers a second impact when the symptoms of a previous concussion are till present. Endite