Jolyon Palmer, making his Formula 1 debut for the Enstone-based Renault team, just missed on world championship points in the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne yesterday.

But the first race of the new season was overshadowed by a spectacular crash involving Fernando Alonso.

Miraculously, the Spaniard emerged unscathed after his McLaren rolled through the air twice following a200mph collision with the car driven by Esteban Gutierrez.

When Alonso’s car finally came to a standstill, it was upside down, missing all four tyres and much of the McLaren bodywork littered the circuit.

The sport held its breath, but miraculously, the two-time champion crawled out before limping away from the wreckage.

“I am lucky to be here and thankful to be here,” said Alonso. “It was a scary moment and a scary crash.”

Nico Rosberg finished ahead of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel to win the incident-packed race.

Palmer finished a highly creditable 11th, one place ahead of his more experienced teammate Kevin Magnussen “It’s the maximum we could expect to achieve,” said Palmer. “We can move forward from here.

Felipe Massa came fifth for the Grove-based Williams team.

His teammate Valtteri Bottas was eighth, after being relegated to 16th on the grid due to a gear-box change.