Confirmed: Fernando ALonso to miss Monaco GP to race in Indy 500
McLaren confirmed the shock news on Wednesday morning
Fernando Alonso will miss this year's Monaco Grand Prix to compete in the Indy 500 instead.
The shock news was confirmed by Alonso's McLaren team on Wednesday morning and is already being seen as a move by the team to keep their star driver happy following a wretched start to the season for the McLaren-Honda partnership.
Alonso will race a McLaren-backed Andretti Autosport car with a Honda engine.
'I’m immensely excited that I’ll be racing in this year’s Indy 500, with McLaren, Honda and Andretti Autosport,' he said.
Think he means "excited", but we'll let him off...
'The Indy 500 is one of the most famous races on the global motorsport calendar, rivalled only by the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Monaco Grand Prix [which Fernando has won twice, one of those victories at the wheel of a McLaren (in 2007)], and it’s of course a regret of mine that I won’t be able to race at Monaco this year.
'But Monaco will be the only 2017 Grand Prix I’ll be missing, and I’ll be back in the cockpit of the McLaren-Honda MCL32 for the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal in early June.
'I’ve never raced an IndyCar car before, and neither have I ever driven on a super-speedway, but I’m confident that I’ll get to grips with it fast.
'I’ve watched a lot of IndyCar action on TV and online, and it’s clear that great precision is required to race in close proximity with other cars on the far side of 220mph [354km/h].
'I realise I’ll be on a steep learning curve, but I’ll be flying to Indianapolis from Barcelona immediately after the Spanish Grand Prix, practising our McLaren-Honda-Andretti car at Indy from May 15th onwards, hopefully clocking up a large number of miles every day, and I know how good the Andretti Autosport guys are.
Is this Alonso's reward for enduring a miserable few years driving the uncompetitive McLaren-Honda?
'I’ll be proud to race with them, and I intend to mine their knowledge and expertise for as much info as I possibly can.
'I’ve won the Monaco Grand Prix twice, and it’s one of my ambitions to win the Triple Crown [the Monaco Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500 and the Le Mans 24 Hours], which has been achieved by only one driver in the history of motorsport: Graham Hill.
'It’s a tough challenge, but I’m up for it. I don’t know when I’m going to race at Le Mans, but one day I intend to. I’m only 35: I’ve got plenty of time for that.'
McLaren have won the Indy 500 twice previously, in 1974 and 1976 with Johnny Rutherford driving.
It was not unusual for F1 drivers to compete in the race in the 1960s when Jim Clark and Graham Hill both won it, but the last active F1 driver to take part was Nigel Mansell back in 1994 who combined his full IndyCar season with four Grand prix for Williams.
The move is the result of weeks of secret talks between McLaren, Andretti, Honda and Alonso himself and new Woking chief Zak Brown is excited by the prospect of seeing one of the world's best drivers in one of the world's biggest races.
'Could Fernando win this year’s Indy 500? Well, I wouldn’t be so silly as to make any such rash prediction, but I expect him to be in the mix,' he said.
'Put it this way: the team he’ll be racing for won the race last year, using the same Honda engine, and he’s the best racing driver in the world.
'That’s quite a compelling combination. So, yes, as I say, he’ll be in the mix.'
Zak Brown (R) will be at Indy to oversee Alonso's entry while Eric Boullier (L) will be at Monaco overseeing McLaren's Grand Prix effort
Jenson Button is still under contract to the team but the team have yet to reveal whether he will drive the McLaren at the Monaco Grand Prix in Alonso's absence.
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Comments (20)
I think this is good. I liked the days when f1 drivers came and raced at Indy. As a kid, it was quite exciting to have my heroes like Jimmy Clark race it. And the excitement of seeing Lotus radicalize Indy racing with the introduction of rear engine cars, I still cherish.
Wouldn't it be funny if stoffel would win the Monaco GP.
It's quite funny to think that a McLaren driver might actually be in with a chance to win something, and I am not talking about Stoffel.
Imagine if win it.
Actually he wanted to go to Nascar but is not fat enough?
I think its amazing to see drivers from different series cross compete and wish him the best of luck! That being said, Indy is a whole different ball game. 30-40 mph faster than the fastest F1 tracks, inches away from other cars for sometimes miles at a time at speed, over a distance of 500 miles mistake free. (Hopefully) Either way, its good for racing, and I hope he advocates that these IndyCars are the real deal, and Europeans start showing American racing some respect.