No joke: Alonso will race Indy 500 instead of Monaco GP this year *SPOILER*

[www.formula1.com]

Quote
formula1.com
McLaren have announced that Fernando Alonso will miss this year’s race in Monaco, and will instead race in the Indianapolis 500 which takes place on the same day.

The 35-year-old Spaniard will race a McLaren-entered, Honda-powered car in the legendary IndyCar oval race, prepared by former McLaren driver Michael Andretti’s crack Andretti Autosport team - winners of the race last year with former F1 driver Alexander Rossi.

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REHAB IS FOR QUITTERS



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/28/2017 11:26PM by Vader.

That's what you call 'out of the blue'! And they are going to use the papaya orange instead the hideous livery they have in F1. I hope it turns out well.

I'd like to see Jenson in the car in Monaco. It would be great!

WTF? When was the last time that happened? The 60s? Perhaps the odd one in the minor team since, but it's going to be rare.

Good for him I guess. It was awesome seeing Hulkenberg racing for Porsche at Le Mans a couple of years back, but Bernie wasn't impressed at him promoting a rival series (to the extent him supposedly positioned the Baku race on the same weekend).

I'm not so sure Button will be racing for McLaren at Monaco though, as it would have surely been announced at the same time - it's not like he has another team or anything to negotiate with. What's Pedro de la Rosa doing these days?

Alonso on his way to the triple. F1, 24h Le Mans and now maybe Indy 500. That's how you become a legend in your own time.

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This is massive news, an enormous deal for both F1 and IndyCar. Literally everybody wins. I've always tipped JPM to go for the Triple Crown (I still do, remember he tested the Porsche 919), but for Fernando to do it is only logical, and though I've never been a fan of his, I do reckon he's wasting his time in F1 and he should race whatever he feels like racing. He's got nothing else to prove to us. Imagine now if somebody from NASCAR tries the double 1100 miles in Indy and Charlotte. Kurt Busch did OK last time.

I do agree this is a golden opportunity for McLaren to race Jenson and make it a huge event for him. Besides, there are no other logical options. Nyck de Vries and Lando Norris are way unprepared.

And gav, yes, last guy who tried this was a certain Jimmy Clark. And won.



Stats: 139 Starts / 7 Wins / 9 Poles / 5 Fastest laps

Yep, Clark did it in 1965. He used to have bad luck in Monaco (he never won there) so he skipped it and went to indy and won! If i remember correctly in that year he won all the races he entered until he became champion

I used to tip Jacques Villeneuve to go to the triple crown (he only has Le Mans left) but that´s unlikely now.


gav Wrote:
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> I'm not so sure Button will be racing for McLaren
> at Monaco though, as it would have surely been
> announced at the same time - it's not like he has
> another team or anything to negotiate with.
> What's Pedro de la Rosa doing these days?

Unless they´re waiting to confirm it as a marketing move... I don´t really know what other options they have, as Carlitox said deVries and Norris are waaaay underprepared to debut in F1, let alone with these cars, in Monaco. Jenson seems to be the only option... or a swap between Alonso and Takuma Sato

Saw this coming, I did not.

Thought it was a late April fools when I first saw it

Pretty neat thing to do though.

Apparently Mario Andretti did it in in 1977 (some poetry there, given he's going to race one of his son's cars). In fact as well as finishing 3rd in the F1 championship in 1977 he also finished 7th in the USAC championship (the indirect predecessor to Indy Car) racing 7 events.

Still Andretti wasn't the last full-time F1 driver to do a one-off Indy 500 - Teo Fabi did it in 1984, also missing the Monaco GP (was substituted by his brother Corrado Fabi).

Edit: I should credit Sean Kelly for the above. Well worth a follow if you're on Twitter (PS, he swears he's not the Sean Kelly that used to be a member of Alpha F1).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/2017 08:26PM by gav.

There was Jim Clark but also Graham Hill the same years (who won it too) and a certain Jackie Stewart who blown his engine once and ran out of fuel another time. In the seventies there was Mario Andretti (although he was racing at INdianapolis BEFORE he began his F1 career) and also Clay Regazzioni after he was sacked by Ferrari. I believe it was 1977 when he was driving for Shadow.

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Amazing story, rare to see a story that is really a shock like this!

Would Alexander Rossi give up the chance to defend Indy to make a switch and drive Monaco?

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X (@ed24f1)

Button confirmed for Monaco 2017.

[www.bbc.com]

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Back when Macca signed the contract with Honda, I remember forecasting that there was absolutely NO WAY they would take on the grid and become champions. I was very, very sceptical of their ability to impress. I took a lot of sh!t on that account. While I might have gotten some of the technical aspects of their engine design wrong, is there ANYONE left that want to re-assert the bold claims from the days of the signing of the Honda contract? Or could we see some eating of humble pie from those that gave me sh!t on a very accurate assessment of the situation?

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It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.

Morbid Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Back when Macca signed the contract with Honda, I
> remember forecasting that there was absolutely NO
> WAY they would take on the grid and become
> champions. I was very, very sceptical of their
> ability to impress. I took a lot of sh!t on that
> account. While I might have gotten some of the
> technical aspects of their engine design wrong, is
> there ANYONE left that want to re-assert the bold
> claims from the days of the signing of the Honda
> contract? Or could we see some eating of humble
> pie from those that gave me sh!t on a very
> accurate assessment of the situation?

It is pretty clear - and todays race and Alonso's team radio confirmed it - McLaren knew it was either letting Fernando pursue his dream to race Indy 500 or losing him on the spot. I never was a big fan of him, but I really hope he'll do well and will get through it in one piece.

Nice interview of Indy drivers about it here. Especially I like James Hinchcliffe "... [driving on an oval] is a very different beast, but at the same time there was a point when none of us had driven on an oval, you know, and then racing drivers find a way to make it work..."

[www.youtube.com]

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/2017 11:32PM by Vader.

[www.youtube.com]

Lots of stupid comments by people who don't know @#$%& from shinola, but the video of Alonso first IndyCar vist (Barber Motorsports Park) is very interesting. You can see how he tries to absorb every little detail.

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Alonso tests at Indianapolis Motor speedway in live, today. Watch here:
[www.youtube.com]

from 3.30PM (European time)

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/03/2017 02:19PM by Excalibur.

So the F1 driver won, but just not Alonso.

Congrats to Sato for the biggest day in his life.

Dixon, you had a cohorte of guardian angels.

Well done to Castroneves and Chilton.

Brilliant race by Alonso who could have won it, considering he was always around Sato. If he had gone through the last crash unharmed it might hve worked out. At least he had quite a few leading laps, showed tactical finesse and had some great moments. He might want to work on restarts, though. What a shame Honda let him down again. I don't think he'll completely switch to Indy next year, since it would probably mean 30 million bucks less on the pay check, even though he doesn't really need the money anymore. But if his car, or more preciosley engine is not comepetive in 2018 I can definitely see him racing the Indy 500 next year again.

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REHAB IS FOR QUITTERS

Safe to say Alonso bossed it today! What a race!

Wow, another Honda failure screws Fernando over. What a manufacturer Honda are. Maybe he should try MotoGP and see if the Honda engine can screw him on two wheels too?

But, better to have a quick unreliable engine than a slow unreliable one?

Maybe it's Alonso who breaks the engines. He should be offered a job in the Honda quality control department.

"Hey Fernando, this engine is unbreakabke!"

"Really? Hold my cerveza and watch this!"

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