Fernando Alonso says he is not worried about returning to the circuit where he was involved in a pre-season testing crash that ruled the Spaniard out of the opening race of the season.
Spanish Grand Prix |
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Venue: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya Dates: 8-10 May |
The two-time champion, 33, suffered concussion after he hit the wall on the exit of Turn Three in his McLaren at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Alonso is back at the circuit for this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.
“I have no concerns,” said Alonso, who missed the Australian GP while injured.
“It is an accident that happened three months ago, unfortunately it was a little bit longer to recover and the impact was a little bit unlucky and it put me out of the car for one month.
“I’m coming back here with full confidence and full motivation to deliver a good result in front of a home crowd.”
While Alonso is confident his crash won’t affect him this weekend, the Spanish driver did arrive in Barcelona this week with a stye – an inflammation of his eye – and wore sunglasses in Thursday’s news conference.
“They recommend not to be too much on the artificial light,” he said. “I try to protect the eye a little bit to be ready for Saturday and Sunday.”
Meanwhile, Alonso also plans to treat those who cared for him in hospital as he recovered from his pre-season testing crash to dinner after Sunday’s race.
“The week I was in hospital I had the best staff I could imagine,” he added.
“They were so kind to me and I want to have dinner with them, probably on Sunday as I stay here on Monday for a sponsors’ event. So I will have dinner with them then.”
All about Alonso |
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Fernando Alonso remains the only Spaniard to win an F1 race |
This weekend marks two years since his last F1 win |
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The two-time world champion won the Spanish GP in 2013 |
In total, Alonso is a seven-time podium finisher in Barcelona |
After retiring in Malaysia, Alonso finished 12th at the Chinese Grand Prix and then 11th in Bahrain.
As well as sporting new livery, McLaren have also brought some upgrades to Barcelona, which they hope can see them challenging for a first top-10 finish of the season.
“Another small step to improve is our goal,” said Alonso, who was wearing sunglasses at Thursday’s news conference to protect an inflammation of his eye.
“Obviously this is not what we want, we want to be on the podium and win races but it is one step at a time. We need to see what the rest are bringing here to the race.”
