Alonso to do Indy 500!

[Miguel98]

Yes, you read it right! Alonso will drive the 500 this year with a McLaren entry!

[DanielPT]

Yes, you read it right! Alonso will drive the 500 this year with a McLaren entry!

Great Scott!

Fantastic news for racing fans! And for Alonso, since to be one race away from that Formula 1 car in order to drive a more competitive one must feel really good!

On the other hand he will probably skip the race where McLaren will most likely be more competitive this season.

[Aguaman]

He misses out on Monaco. Eh he's won it more than once.

[Paul Hayes]

That seemed like bizarre news when I first read it, but it seems as if he'll be in a much more competitive car than he has in F1. I expect it'll be a bit like respite care for him!

I'd love it if Button came back for Monaco - a chance at a better last hurrah than he got at the end of last year!

[golic_2004]

I saw it on Pippa Mann's IG post and at first I thought it was some sort of joke, but here is the news via Motorsport. https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/alon ... 00-892869/

[watka]

As if we needed any more proof of Alonso's waning interest in Formula 1 (or at least, driving for McLaren). Also smacks of a desperate attempt by McLaren to win back some good reputation by putting a "McLaren" in the race, whilst they miserably fail at the highest profile race of the F1 calendar...

Monaco could genuinely be a decider between McLaren and Sauber as to who avoids last place in the championship...

[CoopsII]

<checks calendar to see if it's April 1st>

<checks calendar again to see if it's the 1960s>

I can't quite take this in at the moment.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

*eagerly awaits follow-up Le Mans announcement in an unannounced Honda LMP1 entry*

Really exciting though. I believe this would make Alonso the first driver to do Indy and a full-time F1 campaign since the father of the man who runs the team Fernando will be driving for...

So anyway, I guess we'll be seeing JB one last time?

[Dexter249]

That seemed like bizarre news when I first read it, but it seems as if he'll be in a much more competitive car than he has in F1. I expect it'll be a bit like respite care for him!

I'd love it if Button came back for Monaco - a chance at a better last hurrah than he got at the end of last year!

Let's just hope.

[Londoner]

Legit thought this was an April Fools...

At the very least, 'Nando gets to drive a competitive car. Now, if Andretti can retain their fearsome superspeedway form, we could be on for a massive, massive upset come Memorial Day.

Hopefully this opens the floodgates for more F1 drivers trying their hand at Indy (because let's be honest, we'd all want to see Hamilton and Verstappen getting their arses kicked by Dixon, Pagenaud and Newgarden )

[Bobby Doorknobs]

(because let's be honest, we'd all want to see Hamilton and Verstappen getting their arses kicked by Dixon, Pagenaud and Newgarden )

Judging from Hamilton's reaction to Hulkenberg's Le Mans win, that's never going happen. In his case, at least.

[CoopsII]

Wait, what?

This appearance in the 500 comes 38 years after McLaren’s most recent attempt at IMS and Alonso’s car will carry the same papaya orange McLaren livery

http://www.indycar.com/News/2017/04/04-12-Alonso-enters-Indy-500

[Wallio]

http://motorsports.nbcsports.com/2017/0 ... he-future/

So a "works Mclaren" team in Indycar and Le Mans.

OK, WEC makes sense, but what does a "works" team in Indycar mean? Mclaren doesn't build engines, and from next year on Indycar is going spec chassis again....

[mario]

Like many others here, I am very surprised at this announcement and was wondering for a while if it was a delayed April Fool's joke.

Thinking about it a bit more though, I wonder if perhaps there is an element of Liberty Media being more receptive to the idea of cross promotion between Indycar and F1 as a way of helping F1 establish more of a foothold in the US.

Last month, Greg Maffei - the CEO of Liberty Media - mentioned that they are looking to potentially expand into other motorsport series where they can find some sort of crossover between the two, and there was speculation that Indycar could be a potential target for them. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/201 ... uisitions/

Similarly, Ross Brawn has made mention of F1 looking to take more cues from Indycar when it comes to designing future regulation packages. There has also been some talk of F1 possibly using some of the same venues that Indycar does to expand their presence in the US.

With that in mind, I expect that Liberty Media probably will be privately supporting Alonso's decision to race in the Indy 500 - they are almost certainly going to get a publicity boost in a market they want to crack, and they might also use it as an opportunity to evaluate whether some sort of acquisition deal of Indycar might be of benefit to them.

http://motorsports.nbcsports.com/2017/04/12/mclaren-works-indycar-operation-possible-in-the-future/

So a "works Mclaren" team in Indycar and Le Mans.

OK, WEC makes sense, but what does a "works" team in Indycar mean? Mclaren doesn't build engines, and from next year on Indycar is going spec chassis again....

As an aside, McLaren Applied Technologies does actually manufacture the standard ECU that all the teams use in the Indycar series, so at least they'd be producing something in house.

On a serious note, I presume that they are using the term "works team" in a figurative sense - the car itself might be built from standard components, but I imagine that McLaren are using the term to mean directly employing the team personnel and drivers, along with directly managing operations in house.

[UncreativeUsername37]

Rosberg retires! Alonso skips his best chance at a decent result for an oval race! What happens next?

[Nessafox]

Rosberg retires! Alonso skips his best chance at a decent result for an oval race! What happens next?

Maldonado going to WRC?

[IceG]

Well Button is still the "official" reserve driver, whatever that means...

Who else could McLaren credibly put in the car?

[This Could Be You]

Well Button is still the "official" reserve driver, whatever that means...

Who else could McLaren credibly put in the car?

Their other development driver, Nyck de Vries has enough super license points to start an F1 race if they couldn't coax Button into wasting an afternoon in an hopeless car.

[CoopsII]

Who else could McLaren credibly put in the car?

This from Joe Sawards blog...

There are only about 40 drivers who are qualified for superlicences in 2017 and most of them are not at all suitable for F1. Twenty-one of them are F1 drivers (if one includes Pascal Wehrlein and Antonio Giovinazzi). There are some test drivers, such as Sergey Sirotkin and Pierre Gasly and McLaren’s Young Driver Nyck de Vries, but he does not seem to be a likely choice at the moment. There are some Formula E drivers and a string of sports car stars, plus the retired Mark Webber.

There are six Indycar drivers on the list: four Penske drivers: Will Power, Simon Pagenaud, Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya. Chip Ganassi’s Scott Dixon. He’s a Honda driver, but it is unlikely that Ganassi would let him wander off, as he is after a third Indy 500 win. That leaves Rossi.

Certainly not a massive list of choices and none really that could inspire the same level of excitement as Alonso in an Indycar except perhaps............Webber? I wish.

[DanielPT]

Who else could McLaren credibly put in the car?

This from Joe Sawards blog...

There are only about 40 drivers who are qualified for superlicences in 2017 and most of them are not at all suitable for F1. Twenty-one of them are F1 drivers (if one includes Pascal Wehrlein and Antonio Giovinazzi). There are some test drivers, such as Sergey Sirotkin and Pierre Gasly and McLaren’s Young Driver Nyck de Vries, but he does not seem to be a likely choice at the moment. There are some Formula E drivers and a string of sports car stars, plus the retired Mark Webber.

There are six Indycar drivers on the list: four Penske drivers: Will Power, Simon Pagenaud, Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya. Chip Ganassi’s Scott Dixon. He’s a Honda driver, but it is unlikely that Ganassi would let him wander off, as he is after a third Indy 500 win. That leaves Rossi.

Certainly not a massive list of choices and none really that could inspire the same level of excitement as Alonso in an Indycar except perhaps............Webber? I wish.

Of course Joe had to plug-in for his pal Rossi.

However he forgot to mention some other drivers that we would want infinitely more to drive that, ermmm, F1 car. Drivers like Andre Lotterer, Jose Maria Lopez, Buemi (I would like to see him return) and, above all by a great margin, LOUIS DELETRAZ! McLaren, you know what to do, so MAKE IT HAPPEN!



(Spoiler: It will be Button).

[CoopsII]

Probably right DPT but, again, McLaren should do something silly, something radical, something entertaining like putting Webber in the car. It's a golden opportunity to turn the current negatives all over this McLaren-Honda debacle into positives, they're never going to win it anyway. At a regular track I would agree with trying out a rookie but this is Monaco, it's a spectacle and someone like Lotterer (or Webber, I'm not giving up on that one) or, f.uck it, Bruno Senna even could make it more of an event.

You know what, Formula 1 really needs to think more Hollywood.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

However he forgot to mention some other drivers that we would want infinitely more to drive that, ermmm, F1 car. Drivers like Andre Lotterer, Jose Maria Lopez, Buemi...

There is a petition at the moment to get José María López into F1...

https://www.change.org/p/jos%C3%A9-mar% ... age-no_msg

Come on, only 69 more signatures and we can make this happen!

[Dexter249]

Rosberg retires! Alonso skips his best chance at a decent result for an oval race! What happens next?

Maldonado going to WRC?

Sebastian Loeb heading to NASCAR!?

[Yannick]

I agree with mario's first thought of this being a delayed April Fool's joke.

Sorry for being a naysayer but Fernando's driving style is not suited so well (yet) to superspeedways: it's a high-speed chess game and you might need more patience for it than for a season in an underperforming F1 car.

Monaco is the best shot McLaren-Honda has got at scoring a points finish. Do Honda really consider it a wise move to let their lead driver compete at another event instead?

At least, Alonso will have a great car in his hands during the Indy 500. Here's wishing him a good and safe race.

I'd say finishing on the lead lap will be a huge accomplishment for him, given his lack of experience on this type of track.

[Wallio]

I do have to wonder how much money the Hulmans threw at Mclaren to make this happen. I say that because we are in mid-April, a month away (just under) from rookie testing and first practices, and there are not 33 entries. And realistically, there may not be. A World Champion in the field gives the press a positive story to run.

[johnston21]

The Chequered Flag is now reporting that Jenson is to sub. Not seeing it posted elsewhere yet.

[IceG]

BBC now reporting it too: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/39599645

[Rob Dylan]

Not a particularly thrilling or out-there choice to pick Button, but I at least appreciate that he's getting an opportunity to properly say goodbye this time Hopefully there is much banter to be had, and let's see if he can't take out a lead driver or two. Even better, a Bernoldi-esque performance of holding up one of the leaders for 40 laps would be welcomed also.

I want to see disruption and banter, Jenson...

[Paul Hayes]

Now all we need is a wet race of high attrition, 1996-style...

[CoopsII]

I want to see disruption and banter, Jenson...

I love the idea of Button not really wanting to do it and thus attacking it like a grumpy teen who's been dragged out of bed to go shopping with his Nan. I want to see him mooching about at a sulkily slow pace and annoying the race leaders, perhaps stopping for selfies and maybe even picking up passengers.

[Wallio]

I want to see disruption and banter, Jenson...

I love the idea of Button not really wanting to do it and thus attacking it like a grumpy teen who's been dragged out of bed to go shopping with his Nan. I want to see him mooching about at a sulkily slow pace and annoying the race leaders, perhaps stopping for selfies and maybe even picking up passengers.

Jenson lives in Monte Carlo, doesn't he? Hopefully he'll pull a Kimi and just sod off home when the car inevitably pulls over on fire.

[dr-baker]

This is perhaps the one big negative that I have found in the story so far. Hope that he can find a race seat again sometime.

(I'm am just slightly relieved that it was not at Pippa Mann's expense...)

[mario]

I do have to wonder how much money the Hulmans threw at Mclaren to make this happen. I say that because we are in mid-April, a month away (just under) from rookie testing and first practices, and there are not 33 entries. And realistically, there may not be. A World Champion in the field gives the press a positive story to run.

I don't know if money was exchanged, but I see what you mean about the field being under strength at the moment (if I am correct, currently only 31 entrants are confirmed and, of those, one of those seats still hasn't been filled).

It is certainly the case that the Indy 500 could do with a major shot in the arm, since the centenary race last year was a bit of a commercial disaster - the ratings actually fell by about 10% from 2015 to 2016, despite a reasonably heavy publicity campaign, to a three year low. I agree that there is a good chance that they were involved and encouraging McLaren and Alonso to make this move, given that it has given the race a major boost in terms of publicity - not just in the motorsport press, but more importantly it has created interest in the mainstream media as well.

[Wallio]

http://www.indianapolismotorspeedway.co ... livestream

Alonso is testing today, and its being streamed live with blow by blow from Mario Andretti.

Marco is in the car doing baseline tuning now, but Alonso is supposed to do the next run.



EDIT: Test is over now. I had it on here at work, and the best lap i saw was at 222.7ish. Pole was 230.8 last year in suicidally trimmed out cars. There was much yapping about Andretti trimming the car out for Alonso near the end, but they really didn't. There's so much more wing to take off. Overall an impressive test.

It was awkward to see Zach Brown of Mclaren and Mario talk about Michael's year at Macca. But I do have to wonder if this whole thing is another one of those things that can only happen now that Ron's gone. Ron and Michael STILL hate each other.

Overall it was very cool. And spare a thought for poor Fernando, he did more laps today than in all his GPs so far combined!

[Spectoremg]

Just watched some of his practice session - those cars are monumentally fugly!

[IceG]

So that's Rossi or Sato for Alonso's McLaren seat then?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/motorsport/39994586

[Wallio]

So that's Rossi or Sato for Alonso's McLaren seat then?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/motorsport/39994586

Well last year Rossi's contract had an out clause that let him leave for an F1 race seat (not a tester). No idea as to his new deal though.