Alonso suffers another blow at home

The Renault driver, who had also retired from the Spanish Grand Prix in April, was forced out after Williams' Kazuki Nakajima crashed into the back of his car on the first lap.

Alonso lost his rear wing in the accident and had to return to the pits, only to retire moments later.

"There's always that danger when you start from the middle of the grid," Alonso, starting from 12th, said after his retirement. "This time it was Nakajima who crashed into us and that was that."

He added: "Two races in Spain and two retirements. It's very unlucky although this time it wasn't a mechanical problem. Let's hope that we are a bit more lucky at Spa."

Alonso stayed in his car for a while, hoping to return to the race, but his Renault was too damaged, much to the disappointment of the Spanish fans at Valencia.

"We were waiting to check the car," Alonso added. "They evaluated the damage and, apart from the rear wing, there was also damage to the suspension and the gearbox and that would have taken over an hour to change."