 The team 's pre @-@ season preparations were overshadowed by an accident involving Fernando Alonso on the final day of testing that saw Alonso hospitalised with a concussion and ruled out of the third and final test . Kevin Magnussen , McLaren 's test and reserve driver , was drafted in as his replacement for the remainder of the test and the opening round of the season . Alonso later attributed the accident to a steering failure , although McLaren maintained that there was no evidence of a car failure in the telemetry data following the accident . 
