FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer had to pay an unexpected visit to the Aston Martin garage during FP2 for the Bahrain Grand Prix thanks to a strange steering wheel issue.

Just two laps into the session, Fernando Alonso found himself holding a disconnected steering wheel after it had come off while he was driving.

Fernando Alonso steering wheel issue draws FIA attention

Minutes into the start of Free Practice 2 in the build-up to the Bahrain Grand Prix, veteran Aston Martin driver Alonso radioed his team with a problem.

“Change the steering wheel,” Alonso said.

“There’s a problem with the steering wheel; it’s switching off.”

“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.

But just as the two-time champion was rounding the final corner before heading into the pit lane, his steering wheel fully disconnected from the steering column.

As Alonso ran wide, he attempted to re-fit the steering wheel and was able to do so in order to safely return to the pits.

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Aston Martin set to work digging into Alonso’s concern, which quickly revealed itself to be a far more significant concern than expected. Rather than just swap out a wheel, the team had to make a full steering column change before sending its driver back out on track.

It took around 15 minutes to complete the swap, with Alonso able to return to the track for the closing laps of the session. He finished in 15th, still ahead of teammate Lance Stroll in 19th.

An issue with a steering column will naturally draw the attention of the FIA, and the organization’s technical delegate Jo Bauer headed off to the Aston pits to investigate.

Neither the team nor FIA have offered an explanation, but the incident remains firmly under investigation.

As such, Alonso’s practice time this weekend has been cut even shorter; he handed over his race seat in FP1 to junior driver Felipe Drugovich.

McLaren set the pace up at the front of the grid, with Oscar Piastri topping the charts. Steering wheel issues aside, Aston Martin is going to have plenty of work to do to catch up with the leaders.

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