Fernando Alonso has confirmed that he will be allowed to keep his McLaren-Honda-Andretti Dallara DW12 car from this year’s Indianapolis 500 to go in his racing museum.
Alonso shocked the racing world last month by announcing his entry to this year’s Indy 500, opting to skip the Monaco Grand Prix as part of his bid to win the Triple Crown of Motorsport.
Alonso has set up a racing museum with a number of his racing cars and a go-karting track in his native Spain, and revealed on Thursday that No. 29 car that races in the ‘500 on May 28 will be going there a well.
“After the race the car will be in the museum as well,” Alonso confirmed.
“Every car I jumped in from 2004 or something like that, it’s always in my contract that it will be in my museum afterwards. This one is no different.”
Alonso enjoyed his first Indy car test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 3, passing the Rookie Orientation Program with flying colors, and will begin the official practice running ahead of the race on Monday.
“It was different, probably as I expected it to be. The car felt quite different,” Alonso said of the test.
“Running this asymmetric setup definitely feels not normal to drive so you need to adjust a little bit your mind set going into the run, into the first corner.
“But the end of the day I felt a little bit more comfortable. I was able to feel some of the set-up changes and things like that, because I think the driving technique is quite different, so step-by-step. I did the first one, which is just the first feeling with the car.
“But now, when next week we start the free practice and you start running with other people around etc., I think I will hopefully build a little bit more confidence and start understanding what the car needs and what I need as well to be prepared for May 28th.
“So yeah, two intense weeks ahead but pretty much looking forward.”