Briatore remark fuels Alonso controversy

LONDON — Fernando Alonso’s manager, Flavio Briatore, has fuelled speculation surrounding the Spaniard’s testing accident, describing it as “very strange”, while questioning McLaren’s claim that nothing went wrong with the car.

Briatore, formerly team principal of Renault, attempted to quash worries about Alonso’s health, but appeared to point the finger of blame at McLaren for the crash that put the 33-year-old out of this Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix. He also described McLaren’s communications throughout the whole affair as “not brilliant”.

“He crashes without any reason,” Briatore told Italian television. “It was not even that dramatic. The impact was not so hard. We have to see if there was a steering problem.

“We have not had any information on that from McLaren. The accident, if you see it, you do not say: ‘Mamma mia, what a crash.’ It is the sort of accident you see all the time. The angle in which the car hit the wall could have been bad for Fernando. The impact was hard.”

McLaren have said they had found no evidence a mechanical failure, including the possibility of an electric shock, had anything to do with Alonso’s crash on Feb 22 at the Circuit de Catalunya.

All that is known about Alonso’s medical condition is that he suffered a concussion that was sufficient to put him out of the season-opening race in Melbourne.

But the absence of information has triggered speculation the two-time champion may also be suffering from a mystery illness.

Reports in Spain last week said that when Alonso came round after the accident, he had forgotten the past 20 years of his life. El Pais, the newspaper that published the claims, is close to Alonso’s management but Briatore rubbished its article.

“If Fernando had had a problem, a heart problem, a small stroke, a blood clot; it can happen even to a great sportsman,” he told Sky Italia.

“And we have seen that absolutely all the examinations and tests made on the driver were negative.

“If Fernando had had problems, the doctors would have discovered them. If he had passed out briefly, they would have seen. We did hours of tests with the leading specialists in Europe.” THE DAILY TELEGRAPH