Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

'Tough' to miss Melbourne - Alonso

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Fernando Alonso admits it will be "tough" for him to miss the Australian Grand Prix after being ruled out on doctors' advice.

Following an accident during the second pre-season test which left him hospitalised for three days, Alonso was ruled out of the final four days of testing before today's announcement that he will not race at Melbourne. Taking to Twitter after it was confirmed he will miss the opening race, Alonso says he accepts the reasons for being cautious.

"It will be tough not to be in Australia, but I understand the recommendations," Alonso tweeted. "A second impact in less than 21 days 'NO'."

With Kevin Magnussen taking Alonso's place, the Spaniard also tweeted to the McLaren reserve driver to wish him well in the opening round.

Alonso aims to be back in the car for the second race of the season in Malaysia at the end of March.

Comment: What a tangled web we weave

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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.