It comes down to Sunday’s run for Fernando Alonso to qualify for the Indy 500 after he missed a guaranteed spot on Saturday. Fernando made five attempts to get into the top 30 but his McLaren Racing Chevrolet fell short.
He’ll have another chance to make the 33-car field on Sunday in a six-car shootout and amongst those six, he was the quickest so that may bode well for the F1 champ. He was running inside the top 30 but was bumped by JR Hildebrand and Graham Rahal.
Saturday solidified positions 10-30 and the top nine fastest will return Sunday to decide pole position for this year’s Indy 500. So far, Spencer Pigot looked quickest with a 230.083 mph lap.
Alonso had a wicked crash on Wednesday and his 227.224 mph wasn’t enough on Saturday. Fernando said they’ve been running poorly all week. He said the team have been slow at everything compared to others including rebuilding wrecked cars.
Do I think he’ll make it . . . yes. He should have enough speed to get one of the final 3 spots on the grid. I think the problem will come in the race. When he ran the 500 last time, he was with a well established team in Andretti Autosports. They know how to prepare and run this race. I think he’ll be coming back again for another try at victory.
Well . . . All I can say I was wrong. I would have never guessed this would be his result.
Looks to me like MacLaren had lots of great engineers, just few or none who have any experience with the present design. Setting up a car for Indy involves getting a myriad of details right. In the end, I agree with SeaBass who suggested that Fernando was probably relieved at the end, not having to endure entering a difficult race with a car that had no chance to win. Now we find out if MacLaren want so get serious or if this was a May fling.