Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

Three hurdles for Alonso to race in Malaysia

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Fernando Alonso must overcome three hurdles if he is going to be allowed to race in next weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix.

The Spaniard missed the season-opening Australian Grand Prix after suffering concussion in a crash during the second pre-season test in Barcelona last month. He sat out the race in Melbourne on doctors' advice, and having stepped up his preparations for a return with a simulator session last week, The Guardian reports he will now have to undergo a series of tests to determine whether he can drive at Sepang.

The first set of tests will take place today at the University of Cambridge in the UK, where three FIA-appointed specialists will examine Alonso to see if they deem him fit to attempt to race in Malaysia.

If Alonso passes Sunday's tests, he will then have to be checked during the race weekend, first with the chief medical officer at the Sepang International Circuit before a final test with FIA medical delegate Jean-Charles Piette.

The final test with Piette is known as the FIA's 'impact test', and will see Alonso judged against his own scores from a previous test which analyses reaction time and a number of cognitive skills.

Williams driver Valtteri Bottas also has to be passed fit by the FIA for the Malaysian Grand Prix having missed the race in Australia due to a back injury sustained in qualifying.

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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.