Alonso and Honda at Indy by Maurice Hamilton
Of those two, one came out of The Greatest Month In Motor Racing with reputation intact
WHETHER F1 people admit it or not, there has always been a mildly patronising view of Indycar racing, speci cally on ovals. The Grand Prix guys quietly scoff at four seemingly identical corners compared with the roller coaster of Spa or the sinuous precision of Monaco.
Such a sweeping generalisation may ignore the fact that ovals occupy just one-third of the Indycar calendar, the rest being made up of road and street circuits, the majority of which merit a place on any F1 schedule. However, the razzmatazz of the Indy 500 continues to niggle. How can a buildup, triumphantly titled “The Greatest Month In Racing”, be justi ed with 500 miles spent turning left? Why would 300 000 people want to pay to watch that on the day?
Probably for the same reason the 2017 Indy 500 was syndicated to more than 140 countries. And that’s not just because the racing is unique thanks to the specialised and scary demands that come with running at 360 km/h all afternoon (yellows permitting). It’s also because Indycar bends over backwards to make the coverage happen.
Proof came with the explosion of online interest when one car went out on its own for a few laps of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This may have been down to Fernando Alonso venturing onto the famous oval for the rst time; an F1 driver abroad and out of his comfort zone. But the fact that the test attracted 950 000 and 1,2 million views respectively on Indycar’s Facebook and Youtube pages, spoke of more than fans simply following their chosen sport. This was commercial and media opportunism on a scale the F1 hierarchy knows nothing about. Or, at least, that was the case before the recent takeover by Liberty Media. The new owner is acutely aware of the need to shake hands with the world beyond the paddock fence, a boundary created by Bernie Ecclestone for the bene t of the elite within it and no one else.
Alonso’s test may have been archaic in terms of asking a double world champion to carefully build up speed as required by any racing driver school near you. The run may have been without the ne-tuning secret tweaks associated with a routine test. But the open nature of the occasion made a stark contrast to the gleeful use of screens hastily pulled across garage doors during any F1 test.
I joined the rest of the world, not only to see and hear how Alonso got on, but also to take a look at the car and the return of Mclaren orange. This was the interesting prelude. Mclaren’s hierarchy spent the next few days trying to evaluate its weekend’s work at Indianapolis and Monaco. The chances of doing something decent in Monte Carlo were wrecked by the need to replace power unit parts, take a penalty for Jenson Button and undo his impressive work during qualifying as a stand-in for Alonso.
Meanwhile, Stoffel Vandoorne’s promise continued to be hobbled by failures both mechanical and human, the visit to the guardrail during qualify- ing falling into that tricky gap between a driver being seen to try hard and making a simple misjudgement when his career least needed it.
The Grand Prix was not much better as Vandoorne, on for a championship point, again had a conversation with the barriers. Button collided with a Sauber. Mclaren and Honda, having hoped to be unhindered by poor power-unit performance, actually rendered two dismal retirements.
Switching attention the same evening to Indianapolis, where Alonso had quali ed an impressive fth, the man from F1 made a few rookie errors during the race but, typically, learnt from his mistakes. Alonso led four times and enjoyed 27 laps at the front. This was when it was getting interesting during the buildup to the nal dash; a period of serious racing and a time when Alonso usually excels.
Then the Honda V6 let go. If the result at Monaco was familiar and disappointing, this was devastating for Mclaren because it was tantalisingly offering redemption. We’ll never know whether or not Alonso would have won. Even though Honda’s Indycar engine programme has no connection in any shape or form with the F1 effort, having another blow up associated with Alonso really hurt Honda from boardroom to shop oor.
Despite the ultimate disappointment, Alonso wooed the sceptics in and around the Brickyard and across the media centre, one news report claiming, “Alonso won everything but the race.” The double world champion had made the 101st Indianapolis 500 a hugely positive personal experience.
What about Mclaren and Honda? Was that enormous effort and big spend really worth it? The answer is probably not. Two weeks later, they returned to the Grand Prix grind in Canada, and suffered more humiliating failures.