F1 News
Alonso expecting tougher 2019 Indy challenge
It’s only three weeks until the Indy 500 gets underway and Fernando Alonso is set to make his second appearance at the famous race with McLaren, but he’s expecting it to be tougher this time around.
Alonso impressed in his 2017 appearance, making the ‘Fast Nine’ and running in a solid position until his engine broke down.
The 2017 run was with the help of Andretti Autosport, and the Spaniard believes it will be a more difficult test without them this time around.
"I think it's a bit of a challenge, no doubt," said Alonso. "I think we have to do everything by ourselves, not only in terms of setup-wise on the technical side.
"It's also on the operational side, also on the strategy, tyre management, the comfort side in terms of precision, steering wheel grip, basic things that they were ready with Andretti. You save a lot of time. Yeah, basically it's a bigger challenge.
"But it could be a bigger reward, as well. I think some of the philosophy or directions that McLaren may go in the next month, maybe now is a little bit different.
"With Andretti, we just follow what we knew what was working. In a way, it was easier. But maybe now we can discover new things. That's our hopes."