FERNANDO ALONSO had a dangerous incident during the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix after his steering wheel FELL OFF mid lap.
, 43, suffered the bizarre moment during the second practice session on Friday.
Just two laps into the session, the Spaniard's steering wheel display went blank and moments later, detached from the steering column it had been attached to.
Stunned by the malfunction, Alonso said over the team radio: “Change the steering wheel. There’s a problem with the steering wheel; it’s switching off.”
Alonso had slowed down when seeing the issue as he approached the end of the lap, but after his wheel detached he ended up running wide into the ran-off area while frantically trying to reconnect it.
He was fortunately able to do so and return to the pits unscathed, before his team took the car in to figure out what the problem was.
As it turned out, the problem was far more serious than the steering wheel itself, with the team taking 15 minutes to completely change the steering column before sending Alonso back out.
The issue prompted an unexpected visit from FIA technical delegate, Jo Bauer, though no further explanation of the visit has been given thus far.
Fans were also shocked at the incident, with one saying on social media: “Oh hell nah, this is everyone nightmares.”
A second said: “Big yikes.”
A third added: “That’s f***ing dangerous.”
Speaking after the session, two-time F1 World Champion, said: “Yeah, the car [was] not working, and I could not shift gears at one point, so yeah, I had a dash off.
“So, I could not communicate with the team either, and yeah, in the last corner the wheel was off.
“So yeah, we realised that maybe the steering column of the wheel or something had a problem. The mechanics quickly changed the parts and everything was fine.
“So yeah, a moment there, but thanks to everyone in the garage to fix it quite fast.”
Alonso ended up coming 15th in the session, paving the way for what looks set to be another tough weekend for the Aston Martin.
The ex-McLaren, and driver said: “I think it's going to be a tough weekend, unfortunately, we seem not to have the pace before coming here.
“The characteristics of Bahrain was a little bit of a concern for us, for our package, and yeah, probably we confirm today that we are not competitive.
“It's going to be a tough weekend, but we will try to learn. We will try to push, and we are not giving up.”
Alonso is one of five drivers – Pierre Gasly, , – yet to score points this year, while team-mate Lance Stroll has bagged 10 points.
Elsewhere, FP2 was topped by ‘s Oscar Piastri, leading from team-mate and ‘ .
