McLaren to run Indy 500 every year (Update)
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| Fernando Alonso gets his seat fitting at Andretti Autosport Monday |
(GMM) Fernando Alonso and McLaren are looking to return to the Indy 500 in the future.
Recently, the British team shocked the racing world by announcing that together with the Andretti team and Honda, Alonso will bid to win next month's Indy 500 with a McLaren entry.
"I want to win the triple crown," said Alonso, referring to his ambition to also add a Le Mans win to his former Monaco triumph.
"If I don't do it (win at Indy) this year, I will have to do it next year."
And American Zak Brown, the McLaren executive who replaced former team supremo Ron Dennis, confirmed that the marque would also like to go back to Indy beyond 2017.
"I'd like to see McLaren here on a more regular basis," he said.
"Would we do it with Fernando again? Absolutely."
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| Alonso wants his face on the Borg Warner trophy |
However, McLaren has taken criticism for allowing Alonso – its top driver – to skip F1's marquee event at Monaco in order to race at Indy.
Brown responded: "All I can say is I hope we have the problem of Monaco and Indy in the same weekend (in the future) and we are fighting for the championship."
Alonso will make his Indy test debut at the fabled Motor Speedway on May 3, just days after this weekend's Russian grand prix.
He attended the Indy race in Alabama last weekend, and this week had a seat fitting at Andretti's team factory.
"Definitely busy weeks," Spaniard Alonso admitted. "There are so many things I have to learn and I am not ready yet, but I am confident I will be able to adapt as quick as I can.
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| Brown and Alonso at Barber Motorsports Park Sunday |
04/24/17 Both F1 team McLaren Exec Dir Zak Brown and driver Fernando Alonso have said that their run at the Indianapolis 500 next month with Andretti Autosport-Honda "may not be their only attempts at winning the event," they said at a press conference AR1.com attended over the weekend.
Brown said, "I would like to see McLaren-Honda competing at Indianapolis every year. Originally I thought this was an idea we could pursue in 2018 and given the circumstances of how we are running in Formula 1 right now, and Fernando's desire and our desire, and Honda's desire, this created a very, very small window of opportunity that we jumped on for this year."