Alonso ruled out of Bahrain Grand Prix

Reuters: McLaren’s Fernando Alonso failed a medical and was ruled out of the Bahrain Grand Prix on Thursday with the after-effects of a huge crash in Australia, paving the way for Belgian reserve Stoffel Vandoorne to make his Formula One debut.

The governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) said in a statement that it had been decided the Spaniard could not take part in Sunday’s race after an examination at the Sakhir circuit. “Two sets of chest CT scans were compared and it was decided that there was insufficient resolution of the signs to allow him to compete on safety grounds,” it said.

A repeat chest scan had been requested before the Chinese Grand Prix and the results would be analysed before allowing him to race there.