Fernando Alonso - Indy 500 practice crash (Photo: Chris Owens)
Fernando Alonso crashes in Indy 500 practice (Video)
Shane Walters
Verizon Indycar Series practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway brings 200mph crash for Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso smacked the wall in Wednesday’s Indy 500 practice session with the Verizon Indycar Series.
The 37-year-old is a two time F1 World Champion. Following the 2018 season, Alonso retired as a F1 driver. Now, he’s set for his Indy 500 return after competing in the 2017 event.
Watch the Fernando Alonso crash video below.
Alonso was trailing another car on Wednesday afternoon when he lost the nose. The car wouldn’t turn off the corner and he ran out of race track.
Alonso bounced off the outside wall. He then turned around backwards as the car ventured toward the inside wall where he made additional contact.
He wasn’t done. At speeds of 200mph, the car was a pinball. After making contact with the outside wall and the inside it then slid across the grass and impacted the outside wall for the second time.
No other drivers were involved in the crash.
Alonso climbed from the machine near instantly. The car was hooked onto the flatbed and carried to the garage area.
Wednesday is the second day of Indy 500 testing. Two more sessions remain on both Thursday and Friday. On Saturday and Sunday, IMS will host qualifying rounds.
The week is far from complete from there. On Monday, teams will return to the track for a final round of practice. The Indy 500 is set for Sunday May 26.
Fernando Alonso on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway practice crash
“It was pure understeer on the car, and even though I lifted the throttle on the entry to the corner, it was not enough and the wall was too close and came too quickly,” Fernando Alonso said following the Wednesday practice session.
“Fortunately, it happened today. Sorry for the team, and we will come back strongly tomorrow,” Alonso concluded.
The team is equipped with two machines for the week of racing. They will make a decision today on whether or not to move to a backup or fix the primary.
“We’re just going to hover around the car here and assess the situation and make a decision [on whether to switch to the spare car] in the coming hours,” said McLaren sporting director Gil de Ferran.
“We’d been fighting understeer this morning, and it looks like he just understeered into the wall and that was that,” Ferran concluded.