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FERNANDO ALONSO TO CONTEST 2017 INDY 500 WITH MCLAREN, HONDA AND ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT

2K views 28 replies 3 participants last post by  Teutone 
#1 ·
#3 ·
I do find this interesting.

At least Alonso will be in a car with a Honda engine that is one par with the power and reliability of the rest of the Indy teams.

I just do not know where he will practice oval skills, unless a place in EU like Lausitzring is still open. I know Red Bull uses it for air racing.
 
#5 ·
The Indy oval is nothing like he has seen before. These cars are hitting in excess of 230mph. There are just very samll number of drivers since the 60s that could jump into Indy, F1, NASCAR and sports cars and win at all them in the same year. I hope Alonso is one of them.
You are correct, he stands a better chance at Indy than Monaco.

I have total faith in the Indy based Honda engines(unlike the junk Honda has brought to F1).
 
#11 ·
The crash Bourdais had was frightening. I do not think it would have been survivable even just 15 years ago. I hope he recovers from the hip and pelvis damage to race again, his season is over. He was tracking for P1 when he crashed.

Back to Alonso. Just saw his run with the new engine he put in for today's fast 9 shootout. Absolutely amazing for his first Indy 500.
Andretti Racing has had a dismal year so far, but they came packing some speed to the Indy 500 this year.
 
#15 ·
When Hinch's engine let go it lost oil and and coolant. I knew Alonso had changed an engine. Bourdais changed one, now Hinch needs another one. Since practice started Honda has cooked 8 engines. They have identified 4 failures common to 8 of the failures. They do not believe it is a design problem or associated hardware for that design. They do not believe turning the engines down will help the issue. It clearly can not be fixed via software. Honda is in a pickle. They are already in full production and pushing their suppliers for more engine parts sooner. They have Texas in two weeks. Oval engine stock will be low. All Honda cars for Texas will need at least 2 new engines. One for the race and one as a backup. Once an oval engine has been raced that design is locked in for the year. They do not have a token system like F1 did. Team mangers, drivers, owners and strategists are playing it cool. However theor is a lot more tension behind the Honda scenes than the Indy fans are seeing on TV.
The Honda engines have proven they have the speed on big fast tracks, but what is going on with so many letting go? One HPD manager said if Ilmore was not already building the Chevy engines Honda would consult with them which they have done many many years ago. That is how perplexed Honda is about not knowing what is causing the problems.

They also lost 5 cars at St. Pete, several at the Indy GP, Long Beach and Barber. Andretti had all cars DNF at the Indy GP and that is just one team with 4 cars. Michael was furious.
 
#16 ·
Another engine bites the dust, but still a highly respectable effort by Alonso. The crowds applause for him was great.
I remember Takuma Sato well from F1, always came across as a likeable guy who put in a few hair raising overtakes in his F1 days. His Indy win is well deserved.





 
#17 ·
Hats off to Sato. He has been fun to watch in Indycar.

I feel rotten for Alonso. He gets a pass from F1 to race the Indy 500 because the Honda power units are destined to fail in his F1 car and a Honda engine lets him down.
He was managing the race well. 3 or 4 Honda engines expired during the race. We will have to see what they for for Texas. That track is hard on engines.

That crash caused by Howard that sent Dixon into the air and landing on the concrete wall sideways stopped my heart.
 
#18 ·
+1 The Dixon-Howard crash was truly scary. To see something potentially fatal have a good outcome was a welcome a relief.


The collapse of the real estate / financial industry bubble (which came close to bringing the World's economy to its knees) saw the withdrawal of Honda and Toyata from F1 and with it the support for Japanese drivers.
Kamui Kobayshi is another driver I miss (growing up in the family owned sushi restaurant while being allergig to fish is kind of funny)

Btw, A number of Countries have laws and guidelines to prevent or limit economic bubbles.

A few hundred thousand fans cheering Fernando's effort will surely stay with him....



 
#19 ·
ALONSO AWARDED INDY 500 ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

Alonso awarded Indy 500 Rookie of the Year | GRAND PRIX 247


McLaren Andretti Autosport driver Fernando Alonso scooped the Rookie of the Year award for the 2017 edition of the Indianapolis 500.

Despite retiring from the race with a smoking Honda engine failure and finishing 24th, Alonso got the nod over the race’s top-finishing rookie Ed Jones who took the chequered flag in third, finishing 0.528 of a second off race winner Takuma Sato.

Alonso-mania dominated the build-up to race day and attracted enormous interest from fans who do not commonly follow the Indycar series, while winning the hearts of die-hard fans with his enthusiasm and impressive pace.

The Indy 500 Rookie of the Year honours were decided by a media vote, based off of four criteria:

the driver’s skill
sportsmanship
accessibility and conduct during the month
finishing position
Two-time Formula 1 champion Alonso qualified fifth for his Indy 500 debut and led 27 laps and was running in the lead pack in seventh when the Honda engine on his Dallara DW12 failed.

22 year old Jones, the reigning Indy Lights champion, was contesting his first campaign in IndyCar with Dale Coyne Racing-Honda this year. He ran much of his first Indy 500 outside of the top 10, but was in contention for victory late on, following Sato and runner-up Helio Castroneves across the finish line.

He was gracious in accepting that the award had eluded him, “Appreciate the support from everyone. At the end of day Rookie of the Year would have been nice but having fought for the overall win is truly special!”

Big Question: Did Fernando deserve 2017 Indy 500 Rookie of Year award?

Imo, Ed Jones who finished third should have been 'Rookie of the Year.'
 
#22 ·
I am sure Alonso feels his time at McLaren has been wasted. At least he is getting 30-40mil a year which should take a bit of the frustration away.

Nobody in Indycar is getting that.

With his contract ending this year at McLaren I would like to think he gets a competitive team offer for 2018 in F1. It is time to ditch McLaren for Alonso. When he is in a good car he really adds to the overall competition in F1.
 
#23 ·
Its more a question of what his options are? Red Bull's drivers are contracted for next year, a possible return to Ferrari is unlikely, and its doubtful Mercedes would want the headache. Hamilton wouldn't want him there either, no matter what he might say officially.
He burned to many bridges.
Could we see Honda/McLaren offer him even more money to stay?

Beyond 2017, however, Alonso's future is wide open. He is said to have already had talks with Renault, but what everyone with designs on winning seems to want are Ferrari and Mercedes.

Lauda doubts either of them are options for the 35-year-old Alonso.

"He left a lot of trouble with his teams when he left," Lauda said. "I don't think Ferrari wants to have him again. He left with a contract. The same thing happened with us (McLaren-Mercedes). We (Mercedes) have drivers who do their job, so if we win with Hamilton and Bottas, we don't need a replacement."

Nonetheless, Lauda said Alonso's talent is beyond dispute.

"He is fast, aggressive -- in this way, he is the best," Lauda said. "But unfortunately, drivers sometimes cannot prove they are the best by the decisions they make, and Alonso has made many mistakes. He left Ferrari very early and decided to go to McLaren, but the problem with Honda's engine development was already known. Now he's disappointed, but going to McLaren was his decision."

Read more: Niki Lauda does not believe Fernando Alonso is in 2018 plans for Ferrari, Mercedes
 
#25 ·
For the amounts of money either Red Bull or McLaren spend they may be close to the point where a program to develop their own engines would make sense.

Perhaps even Red Bull and McLaren pooling resources to develop an engine together, perhaps with Ilmor etc Stranger things have happened.

But the teams are likely in a holding mode to see what the new F1 owners, and especially Ross Brawn and his technical team will come up with.
He hired a lot of good people while making sure not to poach from the teams. He also bought a lot of the Manor equipment at bargain basement prices, incl the scale wind tunnel with 2018 scale car mock up, plus everything for the planned 2017/18 Manor car.

Ex Williams: Jason Somerville has been appointed head of aerodynamics.
Ex Williams & Brawn: Craig Wilson joins F1 as head of vehicle performance.
Ex Brawn GP: Nigel Kerr, who is set to become finance director for the motorsports division in August.
There have been rumors about ex Benetton, McLaren, and Ferrari's Nicholas Tombazis
 
#26 ·
Wow...the plot thickens.

I did know Manor went up to the auction block to cover as much debt as possible. I did not know Ross bought a lot of it, but not the entire team. Smart move on his part.

The resumes of the people hired is impressive. I can't help but think that there is a conflict of interest unless Liberty gave Ross the right to build a team as part of his contract even though he is part of the F1 series managers with the title of Motorsport Director.
 
#27 ·
According to the pundits, Ross Brawn didn't buy the entire team equipment, but the current season car, its scale mock up and the wind tunnel to use it in at bargain prices for Liberty.
It would make sense for the F1 owners (Liberty) technology group to be able to really test what would be the aerodynamic requirements that make it possible for F1 cars to follow each other more closely for example. Later F1 owner's tech group in concert with the FIA could tailor regulations teams cannot circumvent to gain an advantage.
Unlike the last owners, whose company logo might as well have been a pirate flag, new owner Liberty is making substantial investments for the betterment of the sport. If they increase value / make money in the process, more power to them.
Also, I for one would like to see the artificialness of DRS gone. ERS looks here to stay and has trickled down to modern road cars.
Cheers
 
#28 ·
Thanks for the extra info. Now I understand what is going on.

With my wife taking a full time job teaching my time to read and research has been cut way down as I have been taking care of her horses.

This is he last week of school and then she gets the summer off from work so I can do more reading about our favorite motorsport.
 
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