Fernando Alonso explains bizarre steering wheel detachment issue in Bahrain F1 practice
A tough day for Fernando Alonso in Bahrain was compounded by a steering mishap.
Fernando Alonso hit a strange issue in second practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix on Friday, as the steering wheel detached itself from his Aston Martin Formula 1 car.
Alonso was braking for the final corner at the Bahrain International Circuit when the steering wheel suddenly came off, sending him straight onto the run-off.
The Spaniard was able to push the steering back into its position, turn the car in the right direction and return to the pitlane without any serious drama.
The bizarre issue even prompted FIA’s technical director Jo Bauer to pay a visit to the Aston Martin garage, likely for safety reasons.
Speaking afterwards, Alonso revealed that his dashboard had gone blank before the entire steering wheel came undone.
“The car [was] not working, and I could not shift gears at one point. I had a dash off,” he said.
“I could not communicate with the team either and 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.
“A moment there, but thanks to everyone in the garage to fix it quite fast."
Fernando Alonso's steering wheel has come off 👀
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 11, 2025
The Spaniard is back in the pits now as Aston Martin investigate the issue #F1 #BahrainGP pic.twitter.com/fV1INSJYM4
Aston Martin quickly replaced the faulty unit with a fresh steering wheel, before sending Alonso back out on track.
However, the two-time F1 champion finished the session more than a second off the pace in 15th place, while his teammate Lance Stroll wound up in 19th position, only ahead of Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg.
As such, Alonso is bracing for a tough race at the Bahrain International Circuit, conceding the AMR25 simply lacks the pace to run competitively.
“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."
