FIA's Technical Delegate enquires into Alonso's steering wheel coming off in FP2

As the Spaniard approached the final corner, his steering wheel came off, leaving him to attatch the steering wheel back onto the steering rod in a moving car on a live track.

However, his woes began much earlier. “Change the steering wheel,” Alonso urged the Aston Martin Martin pitwall. “There’s a problem with the steering wheel; it’s switching off,” the Spaniard clarified.

“We saw the issue as well, so we’ll probably just swap the wheel, so I’ll come back to you in a sec,” his race engineer responded.

Alonso was able to put the steering wheel back into position and then made his way back to the pits. What was supposed to be a simple swap, turned into a lengthy investigation into the issue which prompted the Aston Martin driver to jump out of his car and head toward behind the garage.

The Silverstone-based squad had to swap the entire steering column. In the end, Alonso was able to return to the track with a few minutes still left on the clock during which time he managed to clock in the 15th fastest time, pipping teammate Lance Stroll who could not go higher than P19.