Spanish Formula One racing driver to take Barcelona hospital staff out to dinner

McLaren driver Fernando Alonso is grateful to the hospital staff who cared for him after his pre-season crash and wants to take them out for dinner.

Alonso suffered a concussion in the accident at the Circuit de Catalunya back in February and was forced to miss the season opener in Melbourne the following month.

As he prepares to return to the same track for this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, Alonso says he has no fears over a repeat and expressed his gratitude to the staff who looked after him.

"The week I was in hospital I had the best staff I could imagine," the Spaniard said. "They were so kind to me and I want to have dinner with them.

"I have no concerns. It is an accident that happened three months ago.

"Unfortunately it was a little bit longer to recover and the impact was a little bit unlucky and it put me out of the car for one month.

"I"m coming back here with full confidence and full motivation to deliver a good result in front of a home crowd.

"In Bahrain we had an extra step that brought us closer to Q3 and to the points. Another small step to improve is our goal.

"Obviously this is not what we want, we want to be on the podium and win races but it is one step at a time.

"We need to see what the rest are bringing here. Usually people bring good updates but it is a matter of which ones make the bigger steps."