05/03/2015
NEWS STORY
The saga of Fernando Alonso's Barcelona crash has taken another extraordinary twist with revelation of memory loss.
Alonso, who earlier this week confirmed that, on the advice of his doctors, will not participate in the season opener, has revealed that on waking up in hospital following the crash last month he was unaware what year it was or even that he was an F1 driver.
According to Spain's El Pais, he awoke thinking it was 1995, and when asked details about himself, replied: "I'm Fernando, I drive go karts and I want to be a Formula One driver."
Of course, the reality is that in 1995 the Spaniard, then 13, was racing karts, going on to make his F1 debut with Minardi in 2001, winning back-to-back titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006 and then spending five season with Ferrari during which he finished runner-up three times.
There were also two spells with McLaren, but he might well want to forget at least one of these.
News of Alonso's confusion in the wake of the crash casts further mystery on why McLaren initially claimed the Spaniard had not been concussed, though the Woking outfit subsequently admitted that this was not correct.
Though Alonso is expected to make a full recovery, the precise circumstances surrounding the accident remain a mystery... and not just to the Spaniard.