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Fernando Alonso: 'Steering problem to blame for testing crash'

McLaren's Fernando Alonso reveals for the first time what caused his high-speed crash during pre-season testing last month.

Fernando Alonso has rebuffed claims that a gust of wind was to blame for his pre-season testing accident which forced him to sit out the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

The Spaniard sustained concussion from the crash last month, meaning that he was deemed unstable to take part in the third and final test session in Barcelona, along with last weekend's race at Melbourne's Albert Park.

Alonso has been given the green light by Formula 1 chiefs to compete at the Malaysian Grand Prix this weekend having passed a set of mandatory tests.

McLaren initially dismissed suggestions that a faulty car was to blame for the crash, claiming that the weather may have been the cause of the problem.

However, talking to reporters this morning, Alonso revealed that the steering wheel locked which forced him off the Circuit de Catalunya course.

"It was a normal concussion," he said. "I had it when I went to the hospital, but I went there in good condition. But there is a time I don't remember, from 2pm to 6pm - something like that. But everything was normal because of the medication they give you to go to the helicopter, and then to do some tests at the hospital.

"So everything was normal - I didn't wake up in '95, or speaking Italian, or all these things that were out there. I remembered the accident, and everything the following day. There is nothing in the data, anything clear we can spot and we can say it was that, but definitely there was a steering problem in the middle of turn three. It locked to the right.

"I approached the wall, braked at the last moment, downshifted from fifth to third. Unfortunately we are still missing acquisition data on that particular area of the car. It's not at the top. There are some new sensors here for this race, some changes we have made to the steering rack and other parts."

Alonso also went on to say that he will be "fine" to take part in Malaysia, despite the apparent issues with the car.

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Fernando Alonso is transferred to hospital after crashing during testing on February 22, 2015
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