McLaren’s executive director Zak Brown has admitted the initial idea of Fernando Alonso racing the Indianapolis 500 was suggested as a joke.
The two-time Formula 1 champion will miss the Monaco Grand Prix to race in the Indy 500, with McLaren fielding a car, which will be run by Andretti Autosports and powered by a Honda engine.
Alonso’s one-off IndyCar deal was completed quickly but Brown has now revealed the first mention of the Indy 500 was suggested as a joke.
“It is one of those where one of your jokes has some truth in it,” he said at a press conference. “I said to Fernando pre-Australia: 'Hey one of these days we should do Indy together.'
“He joked back and I thought I had thrown the bait in the water and would leave it at that. But when Fernando and I were with Eric [Boullier] and Honda in Australia, it came up in conversation.
“Fernando brought it up and said: 'Honda had an unbelievably great history at the Speedway and I have a dream to win the Triple Crown. I wanted to do Le Mans in the past and would love to do Indy with you.'”
Alonso thought the plan would be to race the 2018 Indy 500, thinking this year’s event was too close, having thought about the idea across the course of the Chinese Grand Prix weekend.
“We talked a bit more serious about this, and we decided if this is going to happen it had to be made by tomorrow [Saturday], the decision," Alonso said.
“I said 'I will sleep tonight' on Friday and on Saturday I would make a decision. On Saturday I arrived at the circuit and said, 'Yes this is a good decision for everyone: a win, win for myself, for F1, the fans, everyone'.
“I was not completely sure on Saturday in China if it was still possible to make it so quick, but we had a huge help from Indy, from the Speedway, from the promoter and together with Zak's contacts and Andretti Autosport. They helped everything become real in two days.”
