Alonso yet to be confirmed for China

While he awaits to receive the go-ahead for the Chinese Grand Prix, McLaren-Honda driver Fernando Alonso has revealed that he is still preparing for the race as if it was another race weekend.

The two-time World Champion had to be replaced by Stoffel Vandoorne the night before the Bahrain Grand Prix after it was announced that he was unfit to compete in Sakhir.

"While I hope I’ll be back in the cockpit on Friday, until I get the all-clear from the doctors to race – whenever that may be – we cannot assume anything," the 34-year-old is quoted as saying by f1fanatic.co.uk.

"But I'm continuing to prepare for the race weekend as normal.

"Stoffel did a great job in Bahrain," he continued. "Although Jenson (Button) suffered reliability issues, it was positive to see that both cars ran quite strongly during the weekend.

"It was also interesting for me to see the race weekend unfold from a different perspective, which helped me to understand everything that goes into getting the cars on track and learn a lot about the different processes, although I’d still prefer to be racing."