<p>McLaren's Fernando Alonso was ruled out of the Bahrain Grand Prix on Thursday after revealing he had broken ribs and suffered a lung injury in a crash in Formula One's Australian season-opener on March 20.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The Spaniard's absence from the second race of the season paves the way for the team's Belgian reserve Stoffel Vandoorne to make his race debut.<br /><br />Alonso told reporters at the Sakhir circuit that he had done all he could to be in a condition to race on Sunday, but respected the doctors' decision.<br /><br />He said he had undergone scans in Spain last week that had revealed a 'small pneumothorax' on the lung as well as rib fractures.<br /><br />"Because of that...with the G-forces (there is a risk) that the fracture could move into the lung," he explained.<br /><br />The governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) 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.<br /><br />"It's not 100 percent," Alonso said of his chances of competing in the third round of the 21 race season in Shanghai on April 17.<br /><br />Vandoorne, last year's GP2 champion and a rising star in the sport, is McLaren's official stand-in and was flying back from Japan where he is racing in a domestic series.<br /><br />The Honda-powered team said the Belgian would be at the Bahrain circuit on Friday, in time for first practice with Alonso staying on to lend his support.<br /><br />Alonso's crash in Melbourne, after colliding with Mexican Esteban Gutierrez's Haas in the March 20 season opener, provided a moment of high drama with the race red-flagged before an eventual re-start.<br /><br />The Spaniard, a double world champion, was fortunate to escape serious injury, climbing out of his wrecked car without assistance and released from the medical centre after precautionary checks.<br /><br />Alonso had been due to race in Bahrain with a new chassis and replacement power unit after Honda said there was little to salvage.</p>
<p>McLaren's Fernando Alonso was ruled out of the Bahrain Grand Prix on Thursday after revealing he had broken ribs and suffered a lung injury in a crash in Formula One's Australian season-opener on March 20.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The Spaniard's absence from the second race of the season paves the way for the team's Belgian reserve Stoffel Vandoorne to make his race debut.<br /><br />Alonso told reporters at the Sakhir circuit that he had done all he could to be in a condition to race on Sunday, but respected the doctors' decision.<br /><br />He said he had undergone scans in Spain last week that had revealed a 'small pneumothorax' on the lung as well as rib fractures.<br /><br />"Because of that...with the G-forces (there is a risk) that the fracture could move into the lung," he explained.<br /><br />The governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) 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.<br /><br />"It's not 100 percent," Alonso said of his chances of competing in the third round of the 21 race season in Shanghai on April 17.<br /><br />Vandoorne, last year's GP2 champion and a rising star in the sport, is McLaren's official stand-in and was flying back from Japan where he is racing in a domestic series.<br /><br />The Honda-powered team said the Belgian would be at the Bahrain circuit on Friday, in time for first practice with Alonso staying on to lend his support.<br /><br />Alonso's crash in Melbourne, after colliding with Mexican Esteban Gutierrez's Haas in the March 20 season opener, provided a moment of high drama with the race red-flagged before an eventual re-start.<br /><br />The Spaniard, a double world champion, was fortunate to escape serious injury, climbing out of his wrecked car without assistance and released from the medical centre after precautionary checks.<br /><br />Alonso had been due to race in Bahrain with a new chassis and replacement power unit after Honda said there was little to salvage.</p>
