Alonso: Spa result ‘unthinkable’ a few months ago

By Aug 28, 2016, 3:00 PM EDT
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Fernando Alonso believes that a seventh-place finish at a track such as the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps would have been “unthinkable” for McLaren a few months ago.

Alonso was resigned to the back of the grid at Spa after a 60-place grid penalty following power unit changes and an issue in qualifying that prevented him from posting a time.

However, the decision to start on the medium tire, combined with a number of clashes for cars ahead at the start and a red flag period lifted Alonso to as high as fourth within the first 10 laps.

Although the Spaniard was powerless to stop Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Perez and Sebastian Vettel fighting past during the race, he was still delighted with P7, believing it to act as evidence of McLaren-Honda’s progress.

“It was an exciting race to drive and I had a good feeling throughout,” Alonso said.

“We had good pace this weekend. We did better than expected on this track. We were in the top 10 with Jenson yesterday in qualifying, and we’ve scored points today.

“Believe me: a few months ago that would have been unthinkable on a circuit like this. That’s progress – real progress.

“And, after all the bad luck we’ve had so far this weekend, we finally got some good luck today. We started last, but we managed to keep away from all the incidents, gain some positions thanks to the safety car and then a couple more because of the red flag.

“It’s great news that we overtook Toro Rosso in the constructors’ world championship – I think we can be regularly in the points from now on.

“This weekend we saw evidence of very good progress from the team; we’re moving in the right direction, that’s for sure.”

Teammate Jenson Button started the race from inside the top 10, but had any hope of points ended early on after a clash with Pascal Wehrlein at Les Combes.

“I had a really good start. I got ahead of a Williams, pulled in front of a Red Bull and drew alongside a Force India,” Button explained.

“But then I lost a lot of places at La Source and ran wide. I rejoined the track, but Pascal made contact with me at Turn 5, damaging the rear of my car.

“There was a lot of damage and we were unable to complete the race. After such a short race, there’s not much more to say!”

IndyCar disappointed by delay of video game but aiming to launch at start of 2024

By Mar 27, 2023, 3:00 PM EDT
IndyCar video game 2024
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An IndyCar executive said there is “absolutely” disappointment that its long-awaited video game recently was delayed beyond its target date, but the series remains optimistic about the new title.

“Well, I don’t know how quick it will be, but the whole situation is important to us,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said during a news conference Monday morning to announce IndyCar’s NTT title sponsorship. “Motorsport Games has spent a lot of money, a lot of effort to create an IndyCar title. What we’ve seen of that effort, which is not completely obvious, is very reassuring.

“I think it’s going to be outstanding. That’s our shared objective, that when it is released, it’s just widely accepted. A great credit both to IndyCar racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something that our fans love.”

In June 2021, IndyCar announced a new partnership with Motorsport Games to create and distribute an IndyCar video game for the PC and Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2023.

But during an earnings call last week, Motorsport Games said the IndyCar game had been delayed to 2024 to ensure high quality.

Somewhat compounding the delay is that IndyCar’s license for iRacing expired after the end of the 2022 season because of its exclusive agreement with Motorsport Games.

That’s resulted in significant changes for IndyCar on iRacing, which had provided a high-profile way for the series to stay visible during its 2020 shutdown from the pandemic. (Players still can race an unbranded car but don’t race on current IndyCar tracks, nor can they stream).

That’s helped ratchet up the attention on having a video game outlet for IndyCar.

“I wish we had an IndyCar title 10 years ago,” said Miles, who has been working with the organization since 2013. “We’ve been close, but we’ve had these I think speed bumps.”

IndyCar is hopeful the Motorsports Game edition will be ready at the start of 2024. Miles hinted that beta versions could be unveiled to reporters ahead of the time “to begin to show the progress in a narrow way to make sure we’ve got it right, to test the progress so that we’re ready when they’re ready.”

It’s been nearly 18 years since the release of the most recent IndyCar video game for console or PC.

“(We) better get it right,” Miles said. “It’s something we’re very close to and continue to think about what it is to make sure we get it over the line in due course.”