Fernando Alonso to race the Indy 500, missing the Monaco Grand Prix - McLaren will name replacement in due course
Published by Christine
McLaren announced today that they would be racing a car, powered by Honda, in the Indy 500 event set to take place in May. The team’s car will be run by Andretti Autosport, and will be driven by the one and only Fernando Alonso. The timing of the Indy 500 means Alonso will miss out on the Monaco Grand Prix which takes place on the same weekend, May 28th.
Alonso says: “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’ll be flying to Indianapolis from Barcelona, practising from May 15th onwards, hopefully clocking up a large number of miles every day, and I know how good the Andretti Autosport guys are. I’ll be proud to race with them.”
Of course, McLaren have spun it as good news, returning to the Indy 500 for the first time in almost 4 decades, but it’s impossible not to see this as them giving Alonso something to enjoy this year, considering the state of their 2017 car.
