ALONSO BREEZES THROUGH INDY TEST
Formula One driver begins 500 preparation
What he wanted was to let it loose, but they wouldn’t let him. Not right away.
In order to complete Indianapolis 500 rookie orientation, Fernando Alonso had to pass through three phases of increasing speeds (205 to 210 mph, 210 to 215 and 215-plus), and it took him only one hour to breeze through all three.
But when he was asked how it felt to drive an Indy car more than 200 mph for the first time in his life, Alonso said, “It was fun, but now we start the real deal.”
In the ensuing hours, he completed 110 laps and posted a top speed of more than 220 mph during Wednesday’s test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
If Alonso’s Indy debut could have gone better, Zak Brown, executive director of McLaren Technology Group, is not sure how. “Today went exactly as we could have hoped,” said Brown, who was instrumental in bringing the Spanish Formula One star to the 500. “Lots of laps, he was very fast, passed his rookie orientation without any issues, car ran perfectly, settled in with the team. Today was a perfect day.”
Throughout the day, Alonso received rave reviews from 500 champions Mario Andretti, Johnny Rutherford and Alexander Rossi among others.
Alonso was happy with his showing but knows there’s much work to be done before he can consider himself a contender come May 28.
“It’s been a very helpful day in terms of knowing all these different worlds, these different techniques on driving and get up to speed a little bit,” said Alonso, who mentioned he was still going to be an amateur when dealing with traffic on the track. “Still a long way to go, but I think I’m happy with this first step.”
Wednesday was about getting familiar with IMS, feeling comfortable with his new Andretti Autosport teammates and understanding the oval was a little different from what he saw on TV.
“It’s narrower than what I thought,” Alonso said. “You watch the television, and you see three cars aside on the main straight, and now you are with the car on the main straight, and it’s hard to imagine, you know, how you can fit three cars there at that speed.
“Definitely you will see some of the moves and some of the things that you were watching before in a different perspective.”
Alonso will return to Spain to be with his family for a couple of days then prepare for the May 14 Formula One Spanish Grand Prix. He returns to IMS on May 15 for the first day of testing for the 500.
“I remember ... the first year that I raced here,” Alonso said of his Formula One memories of the track. “It’s a special place for motor sport in general. To race here in May on the Indy 500, it feels like quite a big thing.”