Fernando Alonso to race with metal plates in jaw after cycling incident

Racing driver Fernando Alonso has said he will need two titanium plates in his jaw for the duration of the season after breaking it in a cycling incident last month.

The former world champion drove a Formula 1 car today for the first time since the incident.

Speaking to the BBC earlier this week, he said "I don't expect any issues, honestly. 

"One thing is the professional and driving side, which is 100%.

"On the personal, I will have to remove two titanium plates in the upper jaw at the end of the season."

The 39-year-old, who is returning to F1 with the Alpine team this season after two years away, said he had been forced to rest for 'nine or 10 days' after breaking his upper jaw in a collision with a car in Lugano, Switzerland, but had been training 'absolutely normally' for the past two weeks.

As road.cc previously reported, Alonso was hit near Lugano, which lies between Lake Maggiore and Lake Como in Switzerland’s Italian-speaking Canton Ticino, just across the border with Italy.

He was reportedly knocked off his bike by a motorist turning into a supermarket car park.

Alonso is a keen cyclist, to the extent that in 2013 he attempted to buy the licence of the former Euskaltel-Euskadi team in a bid to launch a new team at the following year’s Tour de France.

The Spaniard has won 32 grands prix and is regarded as one of the greatest F1 drivers in history.