McLaren has announced that the British outfit will be making a return to this year's Indy 500 after an absence of 38 years. And the F1 team will have its driver Fernando Alonso participate in the Indianapolis 500. McLaren has announced that Alonso will be missing out on the Monaco Grand Prix this year in favour of participating in Indy 500. The Indianapolis 500 will be the only 2017 IndyCar race in which the former world champion will compete. Scheduled on 28th May 2017, McLaren will enter a single car in the 101st Indianapolis 500 powered by Honda.
Since the Indy 500 will take place on the same day as the Monaco GP, Alonso has been asked to skip the latter. Meanwhile, McLaren is yet to announce who will take up Alonso's seat in the Monaco GP, but it is likely that Jenson Button might make a comeback. While Button retired last year from Formula One, he is still contracted as a brand ambassador for McLaren. That should really be interesting, considering he'll be the second F1 driver to race after retirement this year. First being Felipe Massa for Williams.
Alonso participating in the Indy 500 race also comes at a time when there have been reports of the driver not happy with the Honda engine. It's an open secret that McLaren has been struggling this season with the Honda engine which is one of the slowest on the grid. However, Alonso did clear that he would definitely race for McLaren for the rest of the season and will be back for the Canadian GP post Monaco.
McLaren will be making a comeback using Honda engines to the Indianapolis 500. The car will be run by team Andretti Autosport, which is run by former IndyCar champion Michael Andretti. Apart from IndyCar Michael has also raced in F1 for single season in 1993 for McLaren alongside the icon Ayrton Senna.
The McLaren-Honda-Andretti entry, a Dallara DW12 chassis as used by all IndyCar teams. Its engine will be a Honda 2.2-litre twin-turbo V6, limited by IndyCar regulations to 12,000rpm. This will be Alonso's first outing at Indy Car and he has accepted that it will be a steep learning curve for him. The Spaniard has illustrious career in F1 with 275 Grand Prix starts, 32 wins, 2 Formula One world champion titles and a 3 times F1 runner-up.
Alonso also said that it is one of his ambitions to win the Triple Crown of the Monaco Grand Prix, Indianapolis 500 and the Le Mans 24 Hours. Something only achieved by one driver in the history of motorsport - Graham Hill. While Fernando has won the Monaco GP twice, he will be attempting to bring the title home at Indy Car. On Le Mans, the McLaren driver said that he intends to do that as well, and being just 35 years, he still has time for that.
