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Ricciardo satisfied with Formula One car safety

10th March, 2015
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Formula One ace Daniel Ricciardo has no reservations about competing in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix, despite lingering doubts over the cause of Fernando Alonso’s recent crash.

The two-time world champion was hospitalised for three nights with a concussion after he lost control of his McLaren-Honda and slammed into a wall during testing at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on February 22.

Speculation that the Spaniard had been rendered unconscious by an electric shock from the car’s hybrid technology power system – versions of which are used by most Formula 1 teams – was strenuously denied by McLaren, with the team blaming windy conditions at the track.

A threatened driver boycott of Melbourne over the issue was reported by German publication Sport Bild but never materialised and Red Bull’s Ricciardo says he is satisfied there are no greater risks than those usually associated with the sport.

“I have no concerns,” Ricciardo said on Tuesday.

“Safety is always talked about in this sport. Obviously with Fernando’s recent incident, it’s not nice to see that he’s going to be missing a race because of it.

“We’ve got a grand prix drivers association and we’re always talking about safety and how to improve it. It has come a long way, but it can obviously still come further.

“The sport is always going to have an element of risk because of the speeds that we go.”

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Despite being given a clean bill of health, Alonso is skipping the race to eliminate the possibility of him suffering a second impact so soon after recovering from a concussion.

He is slated to return in the next race on the calendar, the Malaysian Grand Prix at the Sepang circuit.

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