The Spaniard, who won the world title with Renault in 2005-06, quickly clambered out of the barely recognisable wreckage and walked away unaided. Both drivers were unhurt and after the crash Alonso said he did not think Gutierrez was to blame, shaking hands with the Mexican once he had climbed from his vehicle.
Advertisement
The McLaren speared straight on, the right way up, before launching into a barrel roll as it reached the gravel trap.
“I’m thankful for the safety of these cars …”
“I took the slipstream as late as I could, until the braking point, and in the last moment it was a combination of factors that we ended up with a crash”.
“We were both a bit shocked from the crash”.
“Definitely, it was quite a big one”, he said. “Thankfully we are alright, also Fernando thank god”.
“I saw a little space to go out and went out quickly. I came to him and I was there to realise everything was fine for him”. And same for him, he’s defending and can’t see what the other guy is doing.
Alonso clipped his opponent’s auto as he attempted to overtake at turn three, his MP4-31 flipping repeatedly and finishing in several pieces, finally coming to rest upside down.
McLaren-Honda boss Ron Dennis said: “You never pre-judge anything after an accident like that, the cars can be incredibly safe”. He was up and walking and that was important.
Advertisement
McLaren were hoping the race would mark the start of their comeback after finishing ninth out of the 10 teams previous year but by the end they were grateful that the incident was not so much worse.
