Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

Alonso taken to hospital after final morning incident

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Fernando Alonso has been taken to hospital by helicopter after an incident on the final morning of the second test at the Circuit de Catalunya.

With 25 minutes to go until the lunch break, Alonso hit the wall on the inside of the track between turns 3 and 4 to bring out the red flags. The impact did not damage the car significantly, but the incident was severe enough to require the circuit ambulance to be dispatched to the scene, with Alonso being taken to the circuit medical centre before being transferred to hospital by helicopter.

The Circuit de Catalunya's official Twitter feed reported that Alonso "is OK and conscious" when he was taken to the medical centre.

Due to the time it took to recover the car, the session was ended early. Jenson Button had been due to drive the MP4-30 on Sunday afternoon following a change of plans from McLaren.

It had already been another frustrating morning for the team, with Alonso completing 20 laps before the accident.

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Click here for the gallery from day four of the second test

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.