Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

Alonso misses FP3 in China

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Fernando Alonso missed out on running in the final practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix as he stopped on track on his out lap.

The Spaniard left the pits in his McLaren at the start of FP3, but there was smoke coming from the rear of the MP4-30 and he had to pull over at Turn 4. With Alonso's running over after less than two minutes of the final session, it remains to be seen if the issue is severe enough to jeopardise his chances of taking part in qualifying.

McLaren did manage to get Alonso's car back to the garage despite it having been parked on the outside of the track, but despite the double world champions remaining in his overalls as the team worked on the car he was unable to return to the action before the chequered flag.

Alonso's team-mate Jenson Button also hit trouble at the start of the session, with McLaren team radio telling him on his second out lap "the issue is not resolved" as he returned to the pits.

Click here for Friday's gallery from the Chinese Grand Prix

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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.