Alonso says aeroscreen makes his Indy 500 return less likely

Fernando Alonso says he does not have desire to return to the Indianapolis 500 that he once did due to what he perceives to be the impact of IndyCar’s aeroscreen on the racing.

The two-time Formula 1 world champion made a sensational debut at the Brickyard in 2017, coming tropical to winning and leading 27 laps surpassing an engine problem ended his hopes. A well-constructed reversal of fortunes saw Alonso goof to qualify with McLaren in 2019, but he returned a year later to finish 21st as he sought to match Graham Hill’s “triple crown” of Indy 500, Monaco Grand Prix and Le Mans 24 Hour victories.

Despite Alonso’s well-spoken popularity without taking on the race as an zippy F1 driver, his previous stance that he was likely to return at some stage has changed.

“It’s less of a goal now, I have to say,” Alonso told the BBC. “The last two attempts in Indy with the aeroscreen made me finger the car a little bit different, and talking with some of the colleagues there, definitely the cars are increasingly difficult to momentum and difficult to follow each other. So it is less fun.

“In 2017, there were a lot of overtaking, and I loved that race. There was a little bit less love in the last couple of years when you cannot overtake.

“And there is the danger factor. In the Indy 500, there are a couple of big crashes every year. Now I am fully focused in F1 and, when I stop F1, I don’t know if I will be tempted to try again. It is not a well-constructed no, but I would say it is less of a project.”

As for his F1 future, Alonso says he wants to protract vastitude the end of his current contract that expires at the end of this year, and believes he will have opportunities to stay at Alpine without unstudied chats with CEO Laurent Rossi.

“We didn’t talk officially. We just had a couple of coffees. But, yeah, I think the possibility will be there. The motivation is still there to win and to tropical that gap (to the front) plane if we know how extremely difficult it is going to be.

“We know there are a couple of things we can do. This first year of the new regulations you learn a lot from other cars and other philosophies, so there are a lot of shortcuts in performance you can find very easily.

“Next year or the next two years I would love to protract and alimony driving, considering I finger at my weightier right now and it would be wrong to watch F1 from the living room while I still finger 100% of my abilities.

“When I finger it is not that way, I will be the first to raise my hand and stop considering F1 is very demanding; you have to sacrifice a lot of things in life to alimony racing. But at the moment it is still worth doing it.”