FILE PHOTO: Aug 15, 2020; Indianapolis, IN, USA; IndyCar Series driver Fernando Alonso during qualifying for the 104th Running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
April 16, 2021
(Reuters) – Two-times Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso said on Thursday he was not sure he would race the Indianapolis 500 again.
The U.S. race is the final part of the so-called “Triple Crown of Motorsport” which Alonso wants to complete after winning the Le Mans 24 Hours, twice, and Formula One’s Monaco Grand Prix.
Only one man, the late British champion Graham Hill, has managed the triple.
“If I do it again it’s going to be for a dream of the Triple Crown or try to achieve the win. It’s not that you do that type of race just for fun. But I don’t know if I will do it again or not,” Alonso told reporters at Italy’s Imola circuit.
“If I don’t do it again, it’s not because someone else said that I will not be able to win it, you know. If I don’t do it again, it’s because I don’t feel the motivation to do it,” added the Spaniard.
Canada’s 1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve recently said that he thought Alonso had stopped trying to win Indianapolis.
“The first year he was strong and then he realised that if he only did that one race it was almost impossible to win it. He would have to race on all the ovals and that doesn’t suit him,” the Canadian told the Gazzetta dello Sport.
Alonso, who turns 40 in July, is making a Formula One comeback this season with Renault-owned Alpine.
He led Indianapolis for 27 laps on his 2017 debut before his car’s engine expired, and failed to qualify in 2019. He made a third attempt last year.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Ed Osmond)
