Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

Alonso confident of China return

Fernando Alonso is confident he will return at the Chinese Grand Prix but McLaren has no concerns over running Stoffel Vandoorne again.

The Spaniard was ruled out of last weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix on medical grounds having suffered cracked ribs and a collapsed lung in a heavy accident during the Australian Grand Prix a fortnight earlier. With Alonso keen to race through the pain, McLaren requested the FIA reconsider its decision but in the end had to run reserve driver Vandoorne.

Asked if Alonso - who posted about his return to training on Instagram - is confident of returning in China, racing director Eric Boullier replied: "Yeah, I think so.

"He is going to go again for some scans and then the FIA will inspect them and decide yes or no.

"Yeah [it was frustrating for him], but it was a good experience as well. He enjoyed being around and he made some very nice comments on the radio."

And Boullier says Vandoorne's performance - scoring a point on debut having outqualified team-mate Jenson Button - gives McLaren confidence if Alonso is again ruled out.

"Now you know what he went through and he is obviously only going to be better, if he is racing again, which we don’t wish, but if he has to, the team is now confident he can do the job."

Vandoorne himself said after the race he believes his performance had proven he is deserving of an F1 seat. The Belgian will race full-time in Japan's Super Formula this season.

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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.