Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

Alonso 'undergoing precautionary checks'

McLaren says Fernando Alonso is "undergoing precautionary checks" in hospital following an incident during testing at Barcelona.

Alonso went off between turns 3 and 4 at the Circuit de Catalunya, with the right-hand side of the car hitting the wall on the inside of the track. The car was not heavily damaged in the incident, but Alonso was transported to the circuit's medical centre before being transferred to hospital.

McLaren issued a statement explaining that Alonso is conscious and talking, describing the checks as "precautionary" following the incident.

"Fernando was driven to the circuit's Medical Centre where the circuit's doctors gave him first aid," a McLaren statement read.

"He was conscious and spoke with the doctors.

"However, as per usual procedure in such circumstances, he was then airlifted to hospital where he is undergoing precautionary checks."

Jenson Button was scheduled to drive the MP4-30 in the afternoon session, but the team has yet to confirm if the car will run again on Sunday.

Click here for live coverage of testing from Barcelona

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.