McLaren have announced that Fernando Alonso will miss the the opening race of the Formula One season in Australia on medical advice.
The Spaniard will be replaced by reserve driver Kevin Magnussen in Melbourne, after doctors advised Alonso should not compete despite having no injuries following his testing crash.
Alonso slammed into a wall at turn three at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona on February 22 and was subsequently airlifted to hospital after receiving treatment by the track.
Further tests following his discharge from hospital showed no lasting damage following the shunt, but doctors have urged caution ahead of the first race on March 15.
A McLaren statement, released on Tuesday, read: "Having performed an exhaustive series of tests and scans – some of them as recently as yesterday evening – McLaren-Honda driver Fernando Alonso's doctors have informed him that they find him asymptomatic of any medical issue; that they see no evidence whatsoever of any injury; and that they therefore describe him as entirely healthy from neurological and cardiac perspectives alike.
"However, Fernando's doctors have recommended to him that, following the concussion he sustained in a testing accident at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on February 22nd, for the time being he should seek to limit as far as is possible any environmental risk factors that could potentially result in his sustaining another concussion so soon after his previous one, so as to minimise the chances of second impact syndrome, as is normal medical procedure when treating athletes after concussions.
"In order to limit those environmental risk factors, specifically, his doctors have advised that he should not compete in the imminent Australian Grand Prix meeting, which will take place on March 13th, 14th and 15th."
Alonso, who returned to McLaren this season after five years with Ferrari, will instead focus on ensuring he is 100 per cent ready for the Malaysian Grand Prix on March 29.
The 33-year-old has won two F1 world titles, in 2005 and 2006, but finished sixth last season.