Friday 22nd August 2008
Alonso leads silence for victims
Fernando Alonso led a minute's silence on Friday in memory of the 153 victims of the Spanish airline disaster in Madrid.
The two-time world champion yesterday confirmed he would speak with his fellow Formula One drivers in the hope of staging a meaningful tribute.
Spain is currently in the middle of a national three-day period of mourning in the wake of the incident when a plane crashed at Madrid airport as it attempted a second take-off for Las Palmas in Gran Canaria.
Just 19 passengers and six crew members survived the country's worst aviation tragedy since 1983, and in the eyes of Alonso it has cast a shadow over this weekend's European Grand Prix in Valencia.
That culminated in the 27-year-old organising what unfolded at noon as all the drivers, team personnel and F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone paid their respects.
The likes of Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren boss Ron Dennis, along with the team's Spanish test driver Pedro de la Rosa, all wore black armbands.
A bell in the nearby clock tower that had signalled the start of the silence, again chimed to note the end, following which horns blared from an array of yachts housed in the marina.
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