Both F1 team McLaren Exec Dir Zak Brown and driver Fernando Alonso have said that their run at the Indianapolis 500 next month with Andretti Autosport-Honda "may not be their only attempts at winning the event," according to David Malsher of MOTORSPORT.com. Brown said, "I would like to see McLaren-Honda competing at Indianapolis every year. Originally I thought this was an idea we could pursue in 2018 and given the circumstances of how we are running in Formula 1 right now, and Fernando's desire and our desire, and Honda's desire, this created a very, very small window of opportunity that we jumped on" (MOTORSPORT.com, 4/23). The AP's John Zenor reported McLaren and IndyCar execs believe the move by "such an accomplished driver is a win for all sides, bringing exposure across the ocean in both directions." Andretti Autosport Founder & CEO Michael Andretti said, "I don't think there's one person that's involved in this thing that's not going to get something out of it." All parties have "admitted that if McLaren and Honda weren't struggling so much in F1 right now, Alonso never could have skipped Monaco to race Indianapolis" (AP, 4/23).
HOW BIG IS THIS? In Indianapolis, Jim Ayello wondered how "big a deal" it is that Alonso is racing in the Indy 500. Ayello: "The world told us. Immediately." More than 30,000 Twitter posts "included the hashtag #Indy500" on the day of the announcment, "generating nearly 159 million impressions." The Alonso announcement "drew twice as much interest on Twitter as IndyCar's season-opening race." Beyond Alonso's arrival and McLaren's return, there also is the "potential that more drivers outside of IndyCar will test their skills in America's premier race -- as they used to decades ago" (INDYSTAR.com, 4/21). But in Toronto, Norris McDonald writes he is "starting to get irritated over the fuss being made" over Alonso's arrival. There is a "difference" between racing in the Indianapolis 500 and racing in the IndyCar Series. Whether IndyCar execs "realize it, or not, by promoting Alonso and the 500 to the extent that they are, they could be doing damage to other races that make up the series." The Indianapolis 500 is the "biggest race in the world," but it is one race of 17 that "make up the championship and to focus solely on it at the expense of the 16 others is to do a disservice to the promoters and the fans at those circuits and in those cities" (THESTAR.com, 4/24).
