Fernando Alonso made his Indianapolis 500 and oval racing debut just hours after he watched his Formula One team suffer a double retirement in Monaco. Debut a solid performance throughout the day, the race finish was just out of reach for Alonso’s Honda engine, bringing an end to his race.
At the race start, things weren’t looking too good for Alonso, as he began to drop back in the field after the three-wide rolling start. However, things improved for the Spaniard and he soon found himself in the lead, swapping positions with his teammate, last year’s race winner and fellow former Formula One driver Alexander Rossi. The duo swapped positions repeatedly to cut down on fuel consumption.
Near the quarter race distance, the race was red flagged for a massive accident involving the pole sitter Scott Dixon and Jay Howard. Howard ran slightly wide and onto the section of the circuit with lower grip. He made contact with the wall and was unable to prevent the car from driving back across the circuit and into the path of the oncoming Dixon. Dixon’s car went airborne and impacted the inside wall upside down, shearing the rear of the car completely off. All drivers were lucky enough to escape uninjured, but the race was red flagged to make repairs to the catch fencing.
The race restarted nearly 20 minutes later and Alonso resumed his position at the front of the field. Alonso lost the lead to former Formula One driver Takuma Sato. The race was put under caution shortly after when Conor Daly lost the rear of his car and hit the wall. Shortly after the restart, there was another yellow flag for debris, prompting drivers to pit.
With another former Formula One driver Max Chilton leading the race, Alonso was in a comfortable P6, watching Ryan Hunter-Reay take over the lead. He wasn’t in P6 for long, sneaking by Helio Castroneves and Will Power for P4. However, Indycar presents a lot of overtaking opportunities, allowing Castroneves to easily zoom past him and Chilton. Alonso took Chilton’s position shortly after.
Following another round of pit stops after the halfway point in the race, Alonso found himself in P3, just behind his teammate Rossi. However, Hunt-Reay had a massive lead. As the leaders came to slower traffic, Alonso overtook Rossi. The gap closed at the front, as fourth yellow flag was thrown for a hard impact into the wall for Buddy Lazier.
At the restart, Alonso was able to keep pace with the race leader Hunter-Reay and was able to overtake him. The green flag period was short lived though, as another yellow flag period was thrown for debris on the main straight. When the race resumed, Hunter-Reay and Alonso battled for the front position, but the Honda engine of Hunter-Reay quit, putting an end to his race and taking out one of the top competitors for the race.
With 50 laps remaining, things began to get intense, with drivers going five-wide at one point. Alonso was in that battle, but found himself dropping back to P9. Another caution for multiple engine failures renewed the hope of Alonso fans, closing the gap to the cars in front.
Advancing through the field at a steady pace, Alonso’s race came to an end in an all too familiar way. His Honda engine went out in a puff of smoke along the main straight with only 20 laps left in the race. The engine failure at the Indy 500 will surely put a lot of strain on the McLaren-Honda relationship and could possibly be the beginning of the end for the partnership.
Fernando Alonso will return to the Formula One gang on the weekend of June 11 for the FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DU CANADA 2017.
UPDATE: The 101st Indianapolis 500 was won by former Formula One driver Takuma Sato, who collected his first Indy 500 victory with Andretti Autosport.
