Fernando Alonso, Alpine, Circuit de Catalunya, 2022

Alonso unsure if he will return to Indianapolis 500

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In the round-up: Fernando Alonso admits he ‘cannot say yes or no’ to the question of whether he will race in the Indianapolis 500 again in the future

In brief

Alonso unsure if Indy 500 return will happen in future

Fernando Alonso had set himself the target of winning motorsport’s ‘Triple Crown’, including the Indy 500, but is now unsure whether he will return to the race.

The Alpine driver took part in the 2017 edition of the race with McLaren Andretti, leading multiple laps before retiring with engine failure. Despite expressing his desire to return to the race in future, Alonso admits he is fully committed to Formula 1 for now.

“Well, I will see, when the time arrives,” Alonso said. “Right now… my head obviously is totally focused on the race weekend and Formula 1 right now. And I see myself racing here for a few more years. After that, I don’t know.

“I cannot say yes, I cannot say no to the Indy 500. What is for sure is that now, it is not in my head because I’m fully focused here. So that probably was the answer.”

Drugovich and Maloney lose reverse-grid poles through penalties

Felipe Drugovich and Zane Maloney have lost their patrial-reverse-grid poles for Formula 2 and Formula 3’s sprint races respectively this weekend after receiving penalties.

Drugovich was hit by a three place grid drop for impeding Theo Pourchaire in F2 qualifying, dropping him to fourth on the grid for Saturday’s sprint race and promoting Calan Williams to pole. In Formula 3, Maloney was disqualified from qualifying after failing to stop at the weighbridge when called. He will have to start from the pit lane for both the sprint race on Saturday and the feature race on Sunday.

Chadwick takes ninth career W Series pole in Barcelona

Jamie Chadwick took pole position for the W Series race in Barcelona, despite initially looking slightly off the pace.

Jessica Hawkins and Alice Powell were quickly at the top of the times in qualifying, exchanging the best lap in the early stages of the half-hour session, before Sarah Moore and Abbi Pulling became part of the mix fighting for pole. However, with five minutes remaining in the session, it was the two-time W Series champion who set the best lap time of the day – a 1’44.951, beating Powell’s second-placed time by 0.329 seconds.

Quotes: Hazel Southwell

Traffic in F3 qualifying an inevitability, say Martins and Smolyar

Second and third-placed Formula 3 qualifiers Victor Martins and Alexander Smolyar said that although both their lap programmes were influenced by traffic in the final sector, it was just a characteristic of the Barcelona circuit.

“I would say some guys try to overtake at the latest possible,” explained Martins, saying that it was better for drivers to stay in a queue in the final corners than push for position. “[Qualifying] has been just a disaster on that side. For sure it compromised quite a lot my qualifying. But it’s how it is and it’s the the same for, I would say, 80% of the field.”

Smolyar agreed, explaining that because the MP Motorsport garage is located near the front of the pit lane, he had been hopeful about controlling his track position. “I was quite happy because in Barcelona always sector three is a disaster But my car didn’t start in the first time, so I had to go to the back and then we cannot really do anything about it.

“Everyone is following the same sequence. No one wants do the push lap while everyone is doing cool down laps. So we all have to go,” continued Smolyar. “There were some people trying to overtake just in the last corners. Maybe there can be a rule saying that you cannot overtake, maybe there is something that can be adapted, but it’s always there and will be.”

Quotes: Hazel Southwell

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Comment of the day

Will Fernando Alonso achieve his goal of winning that elusive third world championship at long last in the future? Reader Sam wonders if the 40 year old will ever get another genuine opportunity to…

He is my favourite driver but I would much prefer to see him in WEC, IMSA and IndyCar. He is clearly still good, better than Ocon last year and I think this year also when luck is taken into account.

But when is he going to get a decent F1 car? And if he gets one, I cannot see him beating Verstappen. Verstappen is for me the best driver since Alonso. Prime Verstappen and prime Alonso might be equal, maybe even Alonso has the advantages due to less errors and cleaner driving, but Alonso is only close to his peak currently rather than actually at the peak.
Sam

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Gv27, Kanyima, Thersqaured and Olivia Stephanie Ault!

On this day in motorsport

  • Born today in 1942: Danny Ongais, the only driver from Hawaii to start an F1 race

Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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12 comments on “Alonso unsure if he will return to Indianapolis 500”

  1. As much as I’d like to argue with COTD, if Alonso did get a competitive car tomorrow, he’d still lose against Verstappen who’s in his prime. No amount of racecraft and wiliness can make up for the sheer pace advantage that a 20-something year old driver will have against a 40-something year old one, especially in qualifying.

    1. Depending entirely on everyone else’s cars, of course….

      Alonso in Hamilton’s cars for several years would have undoubtedly still been champion.

    2. Wrong. 40 is bigger than 20, bigger numbers are always better, fact.

      1. ‘Bigger’ lap times :P

        1. duh! Up on time means better.

  2. I don’t know if Alonso would be able to be champion over Verstappen, but I do think he’s cunning enough to pull a few victories over him in a few races!

  3. I’m not really a fan of statues in general (is anyone?), but Niki seems like the last person who’d want one of himself erected anywhere. I like that MTC has historic cars in the lobby, but bronze statues of drivers seems a bit gaudy. It’s not Ronaldo level bad, but they never look like the person, or communicate who and what that person was about. It’s like a 4,000 year old version of a insta filter.

    1. I’m a fan of statues. They are meaningful and tangible, as opposed to anything else other than paintings and (physical) photographs. But you have to appreciate them seeing them for real, not on a computer screen.

      I can’t wait for the Indy 500 qualifying.

      1. Yeah, I guess you’re right, if they didn’t have a place then why have people have kept making them century after century. And I never knew Niki nor ever met him and have no idea whether he would have approved or not. Like steam engines and bird watching, just because it doesn’t interest me, doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a place for others. It’s not exactly offensive.

        Enjoy qualifying, and any statues you come across.

    2. if made by a master it would look as Nicki was there bronze is great to work with.

    3. @bernasaurus but bronze statues and Lauda share the same character moulding process.

  4. Interesting COTD & I agree thoroughly.

Comments are closed.