McLaren and Alonso to race at Indy 500

[Monty]

So Alonso will miss Monaco and race the Indy 500 instead. Does this mean that Jenson Button gets the F1 car for Monaco?? I do hope so. All we need is Jenson in a reliable McLaren and perhaps some rain and who knows what will happen.
I have no idea how competitive the Andretti (McLaren) Indy car will be but I certainly wish Alonso lots of luck.

[ChrisCurtis]

There's several really positive elements to this story. If it had broken on April fools day I doubt we'd have believed it! I checked twice to see I was reading a genuine BBC news page.

It raises the profile of F1 among the Indy fans and vice versa. I know I'll definitely be tuning into the Indy 500 now to see how he does.

It gives Alonso a bit of a reward for his commitment while McLaren has been floundering.

If Jenson comes back for the race, it's great for the profile of F1 and will create a lot of media interest.

In fact it's hard to see anything negative about it.

[cosworth151]

Maybe it's also a job interview of sorts for next season.

[Andy B]

Two things!
Thing 1.
JB is a McLaren Ambassador I don't think he's their reserve driver as he retired from being an F1 driver.
Thing 2.
McLaren need to do something to give Alonso the incentive to stay with them so don't be surprised to also see him do Le Mans as thats his other objective.

[Scott]

I thought he said he has a race contract this year.  If they are paying him like a race driver, then they could well expect that he should race.  Though I prefer he doesn't.

[Andy B]

I thought he said he has a race contract this year.  If they are paying him like a race driver, then they could well expect that he should race.  Though I prefer he doesn't.

Taken from the McLaren web site: -

The current McLaren-Honda reserve, test & development drivers are Oliver Turvey and Nobuharu Matsushita.

[Monty]

Well if they don't give the seat to Jenson they will lose some major financial support ... I will never buy McLaren merchandise ever again!
 

[cosworth151]

Two things!
Thing 1.
JB is a McLaren Ambassador I don't think he's their reserve driver as he retired from being an F1 driver.
Thing 2.
McLaren need to do something to give Alonso the incentive to stay with them so don't be surprised to also see him do Le Mans as thats his other objective.

That's probably the reason for the McLaren badging on the car. There might have been something like "I'm racing Indy (and maybe LeMans). The only question is do you want me to come back to F1 after that."

[cosworth151]

I just found this:

[cosworth151]

How it came about:

http://autoweek.com/article/indy-500/heres-how-f1-great-fernando-alonsos-indy-500-came-together

Jack Harvey was supposed to get the car that Alonso will be in. He'll now get another Honda entered jointly by Andretti and Michael Shank Racing (MSR). Mike heads up Honda's IMSA effort. His team is based in Pataskala, Ohio, a short distance from where I live. In fact, Mike & my boss Scotto are good friends.

[cosworth151]

It's officially Button for Monaco! 

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/headlines/2017/4/f1-button-replace-alonso-monaco.html

[Scott]

I'm ok with Button as long as he bites his tongue and doesn't just moan about the car.

[Irisado]

I'm not sure that Button will be overly looking forward to driving this year's McLaren-Honda.  Still, he agreed to this reserve contract, and he is the best candidate McLaren have on the books, so it makes sense for him to step in.

I'm happy for Alonso on the one hand, but nervous on the other.  Ovals can bite very hard if you crash and I do feel that he is, therefore, taking a risk.  It also really does show just how much McLaren want to retain Alonso that they are willing to accommodate his wish.  He has taken the car far higher than it has deserved to be for such a long time now that he has earned his opportunity to miss a race for such a high profile event.

[Andy B]

Probably the lack of power in the McLaren will benefit at Monaco and its not a grunt circuit so JB, who I said would not race, will be better placed and hopefully quite chilled over the weekend.
A conundrum!
As JB is contracted to race in 2018, if McLaren wish, doing an excellent job at Monaco could increase their interest and I don't think JB will be keen to go back to becoming a full time race driver again.

[cosworth151]

What else could he do this that slug?