McLaren-Honda reveals that Alonso’s DNF during last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix was caused by a visor tear-off lodging into the right rear brake of his MP4-30, which prevented the brakes from cooling.
Lining up 13th on the grid, the Spaniard was running quite strongly when he was forced to withdraw from his home event on Lap 26. Alonso had just radioed in his team to say he was experiencing brake problems before heading for the McLaren pit.
But the double world champion even struggled to stop his car at low speed and overshot his box.
“My pit-stop was a scary moment,” Alonso said.
“I didn't have much rear braking for my whole in-lap, then even less at the stop. It was scary for the mechanics, but luckily it didn't hurt anyone.”
McLaren suffered a very challenging weekend at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with team-mate Jenson finishing down in 16th and labelling his car “scary to drive”.
Alonso will skip this week’s Barcelona in-season test, as McLaren-Honda test driver and 2014 LMP2 Le Mans winner Oliver Turvey is scheduled to run on Tuesday before handing over the MP4-30 to Button for Wednesday.
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