Winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans was a target for F1 champion Fernando Alonso. The Triple Crown is in his sights and that means that he has to take an even more serious look at the Indycar series for 2019. This has many fans wondering if Alonso will leave F1 and join the Indycar series. I’m not one of those fans, by the way. It would surprise me if he chose to join the Indycar series full time in 2019. It would surprise me but not shock me given Alonso’s current impressions of the F1 regulations.
McLaren have been rumored to be interested in a possible Indy 500 entrance as well as a joint effort like Alonso did last year but time will tell if the team have the resources or drive to enter the series or even one race. With the challenges the team is currently facing in F1, some feel this would be a distraction.
On one hand, McLaren’s desire to look at other series could be part of their motorsport expansion around the world but on the other hand, some feel they need to get their F1 house in order before spreading themselves too thin in other series. That is a decision the board will have to make.
For Alonso, he’ll need McLaren to remain flexible for his other racing endeavors and that’s something I think Zak Brown will be willing to do if they can keep the Spaniard on the roster for 2019. Having said that, Alonso is also focused on achieving something else that is not covered as much in the press and that’s winning the WEC title.
Winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans is huge and adding the entire WEC series championship would be icing on the cake. The good news is, he has agreed to drive for Toyota for the remainder of the season alongside his F1 duties and Toyota are the only real competition in LMP 1 so Alonso has every chance of securing the championship in WEC.
“I am also attempting to win the World Endurance Championship not only Le Mans and am already a world champion in F1 so it could be a super-triple crown,” said Alonso.
To do so would be to thin the herd of those drivers who have won the Triple Crown. Some have won the Triple Crown but not the WEC so Fernando would be in rare air with this title.
My thoughts exactly! I hope Fernando will win the WEC title (I see no serious obstacle now) and I hope he will pursue the IndyCar title – the super-triple crown as he called it. That would be incredibly impressive.
Agreed. I understand Toyota is the dominant team but that’s not their fault. They bravely remained when others left WEC. Getting the the Super Triple Crown would be a big milestone.
Wikipedia tells me that only Graham Hill has won the triple crown. I’d not call that a ‘herd’, more an exclusive set.
What about Montoya? If he can get a Toyota WEC drive for next year he could get the triple crown? It’d be a safer bet than Alonso winning Indy 500.
I think what Alonso hopes to do is not just win the three races of the Triple Crown but win the championship in each category; F1, WEC and Indycar. That would be unique.
As it does look like he’s a shoe-in get a WEC championship this season (I think it carries on right through to next years Le Mans), then starting in the Indy series next season would seem the way to go to start hunting down the Indycar, and Indy500 wins he’ll need for his unique triple crown.
It sounds like a great achievement, I hope he goes for it.
It does yes and they’ve (the #8 Toyota team) have won the first two rounds including Le Mans which has extra points attached so with six rounds left, are looking rather comfortable.
Maybe after he’s done that triple, he can switch to the WRC, and do an unbeatable quadruple.
Still needs to win the Monaco Grand Prix another four times to match Graham Hill in F1 terms though.
If you think about it, its kind of unfortunate that Graham Hill was only part of Matra Simca at Le Mans in ’72 when he won because if he’d been involved in ’73 were they won 6 of the 9 rounds in the World Sportscar Championship for makes (Was no official drivers championship I don’t think) he could have been de facto world champion in that himself.
What is Norbert Haug doing there?