Alonso at Indy 500
What he needs to do to win it
The Circuit de Monaco features 19 tortuous turns packed into 2.074 miles of narrow, bumpy asphalt. By contrast, the wide, smooth 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway has just four corners — all identical left-handers.
So you might think double Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso will have it easy this weekend when he skips the Monaco Grand Prix to race in the Indianapolis 500. But the Spaniard is about to find out that America’s biggest single-seater race will be a challenge unlike any he’s faced before — and as tough as any grand prix. Can he succeed? Autocar asked American racing legend Mario Andretti, who won the Indy 500 in 1969 and the F1 title in 1978, about the challenges facing Alonso.
OVAL RACING
For a driver of Alonso’s talents, lapping the Indy oval is indeed easy. Look at his first practice run, at the Brickyard 400: by the end he was averaging 222.548mph in his Andretti Autosport-run Dallara-honda.
No problem, then. Well, until you add in 30-odd other cars all hurtling along at similar speeds right alongside you. With long straights perfect for slipstreaming and corners you barely need to lift for, Alonso will find the in-pack battles more intense than anything he’ll have encountered in F1.
Andretti says: “It’s very busy out there on the track, with 33 cars in such a confined space, especially near the end when it’s time to go. You’re running in traffic a lot. It will be a very different environment for him.”
COMPETITIVE DEPTH
As Alonso’s struggles in a lamentable Mclaren-honda demonstrate, it’s impossible to win in Formula One unless you’re in one of the best cars.
Indycar, however, has restrictive rules on cars, with only limited aerodynamic freedom allowed to the Dallara control chassis. That makes the field — which includes seven Indy 500 winners — highly competitive. “Fernando will find the competition is a lot
closer,” says Andretti. “Out of 33 entries, you have at least 22 legitimate potential winners.”
STRATEGY
With such closely packed racing, strategy is key in the Indy 500, and the fastest car often doesn’t win. Multiple full-course cautions make pit strategy far more reactive in Indycar than in F1, and being able to save fuel can be as important as being able to set the pace out front.
That was demonstrated last year, when rookie Alexander Rossi stretched his fuel and snatched victory when faster rivals were forced to pit.
“Alex was fast, but he wasn’t the fastest guy in the race,” says Andretti. “There are always a lot of different strategies, and anything can happen. Fernando will have to learn about how pit stops work, and how the pace car and full-course cautions work in Indycar. He’ll need to take advantage of every aspect of them.”
SPOTTERS
Each driver has a spotter, who watches the race from a high vantage point and advises on the position of other cars at all times. The spotter will be talking to the driver almost
Alonso will find the competition is a lot closer. Out of 33 entries, you have at least 22 potential winners
continuously for all 200 laps. In F1, by way of contrast, some drivers get upset by even the occasional radio message from their race engineers.
“Alonso will have to learn and adjust to having a spotter in his ear,” says Andretti. “The spotter won’t tell him what to do, only about his situation. They’ll help guide him through traffic and let him know when it’s clear all around him. Everything happens in an instant and the spotter offers a lot of help, but Alonso won’t be used to it.”
OPEN CULTURE
Alonso has spent most of his career in the clandestine F1 paddock, where secrecy is everything. By contrast, the Indy garage is far more open, and Andretti Autosport, run by Mario’s son Michael, has an open-data policy. That means Alonso will be able to analyse data from drivers including 2012 Indycar champion Ryan Hunter-reay and 2016 Indy 500 winner Rossi.
With Indycars incredibly sensitive to set-up on ovals, that information will be a boon to the Indy rookie. “As a veteran driver, I’m not sure I’d welcome that — I always had proprietary knowledge I liked to keep to myself,” says Andretti. “But Michael runs his team differently. Fernando will have access to all the setups and data of the other five drivers in his team. That’s a magnificent situation for any new driver coming in. Fernando couldn’t be any better placed than he is.”