The Spanish driver’s aggression shone through at the Brickyard. He will surely be back for another shot at the second leg of motor sport’s triple crownMore than a few questioned Fernando Alonso’s decision to skip the Monaco Grand Prix for the Indianapolis 500 when the double Formula One champion announced plans to try for the second leg of motor sport’s triple crown last month. But when that day finally came on Sunday, it was clear that he had made the right choice – even after finishing 24th in a race won by Japan’s Takuma Sato. “If we put aside the last 20 laps, which were a massive disappointment,” said McLaren-Honda team boss Zak Brown, “if we reflect back on the...
The double F1 world champion has much to learn as he prepares to make his IndyCar debut. But his team have a proven record of crossover successFrom now until this weekend, when the grid order is set for the 101st Indianapolis 500, most of the talk emanating from the track will be about practice – a discipline measured on the speed charts and through the marks on the Brickyard’s barrier walls. Of the 30-odd drivers hoping to challenge for the Borg-Warner trophy when the race goes green on 28 May, none will face more scrutiny than Fernando Alonso – who is skipping this year’s Monaco Grand Prix to try for the second stage of motorsport’s triple crown.Maybe that scrutiny is...
The new owners of F1 showed their softer side with young Ferrari fan but are as hard-nosed as ever when it comes to the bottom line of the spiralling cost of the British Grand PrixLiberty Media scored a PR coup in working with Ferrari and finding the distraught six-year-old who had been in tears after Kimi Raikkonen’s early exit from the race. Thomas Danel from Amiens in France was brought to the motorhome to meet his hero Raikkonen and there were smiles all round. His mother, Coralie Danel, was hugely impressed:“This has been the most fantastic day for us. We could not believe it when they came to get us and took us to Ferrari,” she said. “This is great...
McLaren’s No1 driver seemed to enjoy a few day away from his F1 purgatory at the world-famous oval in readiness for Memorial Day weekendFernando Alonso smiled as he got out of the cockpit at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Wednesday. That was good to see. A hundred laps of the two-and-a-half-mile high-speed oval had given him all the evidence he needed that driving a racing car could still be a fun thing to do.A couple of weeks ago, fed up with waiting for McLaren-Honda to give him a competitive Formula One car, Alonso announced that he intended to skip the Monaco Grand Prix – a race of supreme commercial importance to all F1 teams and their sponsors – on 28...
McLaren reap the rewards of clever PR but Fernando Alonso punctures the team’s bonhomie; Bernie back in the spotlight; Ferrari have race paceMcLaren’s decision to allow Fernando Alonso to race in the Indy 500 rather than at Monaco was greeted almost universally as a welcome move. Certainly it generated more positive press than the team have enjoyed in a long time. It was clever PR and they followed it by bringing back Jenson Button to replace Alonso in Monte Carlo. Related: Mercedes consider team orders to stop F1 threat of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel I have never raced with less power in my life Continue reading...