Alonso stops on track as McLaren troubles continue

Fernando Alonso pulled up on track midway through the morning of the second day of the second F1 pre-season test at Circuit de Catalunya with a confirmed oil leak onwith his McLaren MCL33.

The Renault-powered McLaren suffered three reliability issues yesterday when Stoffel Vandoorne was on track, two separate battery problems in the morning followed by a hydraulics failure in the afternoon, to see the Belgian driver complete just 38 laps.

Alonso enjoyed a brighter start to his first day of track running in the second F1 test with 46 untroubled laps before a suspected oil leak forced him to stop on track at Turn 7 which triggered a red flag stoppage.

The two-time F1 world champion’s MCL33 appeared to have dropped oil or fluid on the circuit on the exit of Turn 6 as track marshals put down cement dust to soak the substance before doing the same where Alonso had stopped his car on the escape road.

"This is not engine related. This is a small oil leak we had to the car which unfortunately meant the engine died, so we have to change the engine now," racing director Eric Boullier said.

"They want to obviously inspect the engine before putting some more miles on it. It's going to be another three hours [before being ready]."

Asked if the issue was linked to the battery problems on Tuesday, Boullier said: "I don't think this is related now. We tried to design the best car, so we have to be convinced about the car concept.

"With every new car concept, you obviously have to prove out on-track if it works or not. There is some adjustment. We are trying to make the best out of our car to make sure the aerodynamic platform is delivering much more. So we'll see.

"Today I think we're about to fine tune, but the problem we had with the leak is nothing related to that."