Fernando Alonso was hit by motorist turning into supermarket car park

Police in Switzerland have said that Fernando Alonso was knocked off his bike by a motorist turning into a supermarket car park. The Alpine F1 driver underwent surgery on a fractured jaw yesterday and was due to remain in hospital for 48 hours.

Alonso, the former world champion Formula 1 racing driver, 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.

Crash.net reports Swiss police as saying that he was hit by an oncoming motorist who was turning off the road while riding past a queue of stationary traffic.

The report said: “Just before 2pm in Viganello, a 42-year-old Swiss motorist domiciled in the Lugano area was driving in via La Santa in the direction of Pregassona.

“According to an initial reconstruction and for reasons that the police investigation will have to establish, while she was making a left-hand turn to enter a supermarket car park, she collided with a 39-year-old Spanish citizen, who was riding his bicycle and passing a line of stationary vehicles on the right. The collision took place against the right side of the car."

The statement said that police officers arrived on the scene along with members of the Lugano Green Cross, who gave Alonso treatment before taking him to hospital by ambulance.

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 plans were ultimately shelved when the driver changed his priorities after it became clear he would not be retained as a driver by Ferrari.