Fernando Alonso Knows Window to Racing's Triple Crown is Closing Soon - Autoweek

kmatabunga.blogspot.com

Fernando Alonso, driver of the No. 66 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet at this year's Indianapolis 500, says this will be his last chance at racing's Triple Crown, for awhile anwyay.

Alonso began practice on August 12 for his third Indy 500 campaign with a McLaren-linked team. He failed to qualify for the 500 a year ago after finishing 29th in 2017. He did lead 27 laps in 2017 before being forced from the race with engine problems.

Next year, the two-time F1 champion will return to Formula 1 full-time with Renault.

"I think I am facing this race knowing that in the next two years it will be impossible to come back," said Alonso, who is trying to add the Indianapolis 500 to his previous wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the F1 Monaco Grand Prix. "I would have to miss a F1 qualifying if I wanted to do it, and next year I won't be with McLaren. So for the next few years I will not be here, but we will see what possibilities there are in the future.

"But I don't want to think about that yet. I'm concentrating on the coming days."

Graham Hill is the only driver to win the Triple Crown.

Alonso, while keeping his mind set on the 500, did take time to notice the empty grandstands the drivers faced for the first day of practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Wednesday. And it's going to be more of the same leading up to and during the race itself.

Fernando Alonso began his latest quest for the Indy 500 crown on Wednesday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Chris Jones

"I think it's going to be a little bit different without fans," Alonso said. "Yeah, for me it's going to be the first race with empty grandstands. I know the guys have been racing lately with no fans. It's going to be a shock I'm sure on race day.

"But, yeah, looking forward. I think we did a nice preparations with the circumstances, we didn't have any test day, any simulator or anything like that, compare other 500s. At the same time I saw a very well-prepared, organized team, very hungry of success, doing something good this month.

Alonso was fifth quickest on opening day of practice.

"I think we need to wait and see where we are on the speed of the pace of the car," Alonso said. "But, yeah, it makes a difference the team itself, how Arrow SP is well-prepared, the experience in the series. Is going to be a big difference compared to last year that we were not prepared enough for the challenge.

"I'm with reasonable confidence that there's going to be a good event for us. But we take it step by step. We know there are a lot of things to do from our side."

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io

Let's block ads! (Why?)

"triple" - Google News
August 13, 2020 at 02:55PM
https://ift.tt/3iHK5mV

Fernando Alonso Knows Window to Racing's Triple Crown is Closing Soon - Autoweek
"triple" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3dc0blF
https://ift.tt/2WoIFUS

Bagikan Berita Ini