Alpine heads home early following hydraulics issue

The Alpine team has announced that it will take no further part in pre-season testing following damage sustained by its car on Friday morning.

Fernando Alonso was just 12 laps into his final day of running when he was forced to stop his car on-track with a smoking rear end.

The incident halted the morning session but a subsequent examination of the A522 by Alpine's crews back in the French outfit's garage revealed a hydraulics issue that led to a fire and damage at the back of the car.

"After further investigations in the garage following Fernando Alonso’s on-track stoppage earlier this morning, the team can confirm the issue was a problem with the hydraulics," a statement from Alpine reads.

"A minor sealing issue led to a fire in the back of the car. The team has successfully completed 266 laps during the three days of the Barcelona shakedown.

"Repairs on the car will continue, and as a result we won’t be running for the remainder of the day. We look forward to be back in action at the next test in Bahrain."

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Alpine had enjoyed good reliability and a healthy lap count on the first two days of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya.

But the setback means that Esteban Ocon will be a mere spectator this afternoon in Barcelona during Pirelli's wet weather session at the track.

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