McLaren driver Fernando Alonso speaks out on mysterious crash ahead of Malaysia GP return

Fernando Alonso has broken the silence over his mysterious accident at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya on 22 February, contradicting McLaren's official explanation.

McLaren said the crash was caused by "unpredictably gusty winds" while chairman Ron Dennis said that the 33-year-old "was unconscious for a relatively short period of time" after the impact with the wall.

However, the Spaniard has now rubbished both theories during a press conference ahead of his return at this weekend's Malaysia GP.

"If you see the video even a hurricane will not move the car at that speed," Alonso said.

"There is not in the data anything clear that we can spot and we can say 'it was that, the reason'. But definitely we had a steering problem in the middle of turn three that locked into the right.

"I approached the wall, I braked in the last moment, I downshift from fifth to third and unfortunately on the data we're still missing some parts. Probably the acquisition data on that particular area of the car is not at the top so there are some new sensors here in this race and there are some changes that we do on the steering rack and on other parts."

The Spaniard also claimed he "was perfectly conscious", denying reports he believed he was in 1995 when he woke up.

"After the hit I was kissing the wall for a while, then I switch off the radio first because it was on. And then I switch off the master switch, that we call just for the batteries, to switch off the ERS system because I saw the marshals coming and if not they cannot touch the car. So I was perfectly conscious at that time," he added.

"There is a time that I don't remember in the hospital from two o'clock to six o'clock or something like that but everything again was normal due to the medication they give you to go into the helicopter. Everything as I said was normal, I didn't wake up in '95, I didn't wake up speaking Italian, I didn't wake up in all these things that probably were out there."

Alonso has clarified that he fully trusts in McLaren and is not concerned about having similar problems ahead of his return this weekend.

"I fully trust the team," he reiterated when asked if he was concerned about the possibility of suffering a similar failure in future.

"They've been one month looking every single component of the car, simulating the air force, doing so many tests. They've been changing every single part they had some doubts. So I think we have the safest car right now because with all the studies they did. And after one month probably I am the most checked driver medically in history. So we should be fine, both parts."