Alonso feared 'massive crash' after sudden brake failure

Fernando Alonso said he was lucky not to take other drivers out of the race with him when he suffered a brake failure during the Chinese Grand Prix.

After crashing out of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, the veteran Formula 1 driver would have been hoping for a better result in China.

However, it wasn't to be for Alonso, who only lasted four laps of the Shanghai International Circuit before retiring from the Grand Prix.

Alpine's Pierre Gasly had been following close behind the Aston Martin driver and spoke to his race engineer, telling him that he saw smoke billowing out of the rear of Alonso's AMR25.

Just a few moments later, Alonso slowed to a crawl and limped his car back to the pits.

'That Was Super Scary'

Meanwhile, teammate Lance Stroll showed great pace on his opening Hard tyre stint but failed to score points, finishing in P12.

When asked about his race retirement, Alonso was relieved to avoid crashing his Aston Martin. He said: "The brakes apparently were very hot since the beginning of the race.

"And then by lap three or lap four, I went on the brakes in Turn 1, and the pedal went just, you know, to the bottom of the chassis," explained the 43-year-old.

Alonso continued: "And that was super scary. Luckily, Turn 1 is just a corner that you just downshift and go into the corner. If that happens in Turn 14, I think it could be a massive crash, because I will take four or five or five cars in front of me out of the race. 

"So, you know, in all the unlucky situations, I think we were lucky today to not hit any cars in front of us. And now let's try to understand what happened, and try to see the first chequered flag in Japan," he concluded.

Expectations are high for Aston Martin going into the next few seasons. The Silverstone-based outfit hired the services of legendary designer Adrian Newey, who joined the team earlier this year.

With a host of new regulations coming into effect next year, Aston Martin will be hoping that Newey can produce a car capable of race wins and championships in the near future as well.

For the time being however, the focus is on the current campaign. Aston Martin will be back in action for the Japanese Grand Prix, commencing Sunday 6 April at 06:00 GMT (14:00 local time).

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