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[Rad-oh-yeah?]

 

Zak Brown‏ @ZBrownCEO  4m4 minutes ago

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I told Fernando #alo_oficial I'd carry his bags if we did #indy500. He's taking all my Indy jokes a bit 2 seriously!

[Wingman]

David Malsher

@DavidMalsher

 

The kinda people you run into on a wet Sunday morning in Alabama

 

4:59pm · 23 Apr 2017 · Twitter for iPhone

[/13/Ален Шмит/]

A 10-year-old boy dies following karting collision at Fernando Alonso circuit

Tragedy struck on Saturday in the Asturias Karting Championships at the Fernando Alonso Circuit as a 10-year-old boy died, the Spanish Motorsport Federation have confirmed in an official statement.Gonzalo Basurto from Burgos died following a collision with another kart in the test session ahead of the race due to be held on Sunday.The child was initially taken to hospital in the town of Llanera before being moved to the Central University Hospital of Asturias, in Oviedo, where he died this morning."I woke up at dawn on one of the saddest days," tweeted Fernando Alonso earlier on Sunday."I'm torn apart here, a massive hug to Gonzalo's family and all in karting world."The race has been cancelled as a result.

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

KZS Alonso (video): https://www.facebook...54419997260848/

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

'We will be prepared' for the 500 - Alonso
Sunday, 23 April 2017
By RACER staff / Images by IMS Photo, LAT


The circumstances that led to Fernando Alonso and McLaren's plans to compete in the Indy 500 didn't seem to leave much time for a learning curve. But for the two-time world champion, who joined McLaren Technology Group Executive Director Zak Brown at a news conference Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park, it's a process he felt he's meant to conquer.

"It has been an amazing week or 10 days from the announcement – I'm really excited about this opportunity," Alonso said. "For any racing driver in the world to compete in the best races is the main goal, against the best drivers and the best and fastest cars in the world. This is what I'm trying to experience with the Indy 500 adventure.

"It's going to be a very difficult challenge for me to get used to the car, get used to the superspeedway and all the techniques that are unique to be on top of it, but I have the best team around me, I have amazing people that will help me to speed up this [learning] process and it's so challenging that it's exciting at the same time.

"I need to go through different steps in this learning, I need to do it in two weeks' time, no more than that, and that's quite exciting."

2003 Indy 500 winner Gil de Ferran has been brought on board to assist Alonso through his superspeedway crash course, a process which Alonso says is already underway.

"With Alexander [Rossi], with Takuma [Sato] as well, they can give me some tips [on how to adapt]," he said. "But I think that the whole team, the environment that Andretti puts on for the race will be the most beneficial part. I've been working already, exchanging some emails with engineers and looking at some data.



"Winning is something really big, you need a lot of things to come to you, but I take it more like an experience, very open. I know that if the race was tomorrow, I'm not ready to do it because I know nothing about it. But I will go step by step trying to learn, do some simulator laps ... and then as good as anyone else as traffic when it comes time. I want to be as prepared as anyone else."

Of all the first-time experiences open-wheel racing will present, Alonso's main concern is traffic. But when asked what his biggest challenge will be, he answered: "Everything."

"It's different, it's challenging," he said. "The traffic I think, the level of downforce, feeling with the car, running with a car that's not symmetric on the straights, on braking. Traffic is a big thing from what I'm hearing. Let's see if I can learn as quick as I can. I think the restarts, strategies will be different as well. I'm with the best team possible for this type of lessons. Also with coach Gil de Ferran, which I'm sure will be very useful for all these new things. We will be prepared.

"With the level of professionalism and commitment in the last two decades of motorsport, it's difficult to jump from one series to another in the same season. ... the last drivers to attempt something similar, they have bigger experience so they have couple of months of preparation, more tests, more oval and superspeedway tests at well.

"This is quite a unique thing – I'm aware of the difficulty. All the fans are aware of this. But if you love motorsport I think this is good news."

Alonso’s ambitious personal goal has been in the back of his mind for several years – and conditions fell into place for him to start a journey to become as complete a racer as some of the sport’s biggest names.

"Four or five years ago, I started thinking about how to grow up as a driver, become a little bit more complete driver; to do so you need to win the best races in the world, the most prestigious races in the world," he explained. "And how to achieve that, I think is Formula 1, Indy 500 and 24 Hours Le Mans. The Triple Crown.



"That target – very ambitious target, because only one man in history did it, and it was attractive at the time – I didn’t think it was possible to attempt another race apart from Formula 1 until I was retired. To make it happen now in this year is making me very, very proud, and makes me very happy as well.

Brown reiterated earlier comments that Alonso's Indy 500 deal could be a first step toward a permanent McLaren return to IndyCar.

"Giving the circumstances of how we are running in Formula 1, and Fernando's desire and our desire and Honda's desire to win together, this created a very small window of opportunity that we jumped on," said Brown. "McLaren is a big fan of IndyCar racing. I've personally been around it my whole life. We had just enough time to do this very properly, when I called Mark [Miles] and ultimately Michael [Andretti], it was good that he was already far down the road with the car, because we need to be competitive; the whole idea is to run at the front of the field.

"We’ve brought in Gil de Ferran to assist Fernando in his way around Indianapolis, and I’d like to see McLaren here on a more regular basis. I hope we have the problem of Monaco and Indy in the same weekend and we are fighting for the championship. What happens in 2018 we’ll have to wait and see; we’re working very hard to give Fernando and Stoffel Vandoorne a much more competitive car than we’re producing right now."

 

Alonso takes jab at F1 drivers over Indy reaction
Sunday, 23 April 2017
By RACER Staff / Images by LAT


Above: Fernando Alonso gets comfortable in Marco Andretti's No. 27 Andretti Autosport Honda.

Fernando Alonso doesn't expect his Indy 500 experience to be a cakewalk, much in the same way many of his competitors in the F1 paddock question why he would miss a race – Monaco, at that – to compete on an oval. Alonso had a biting response to their reaction.

"We don't talk much there," he said to much laughter in Sunday's news conference. "It's a different world; the only thing that I know is probably what you guys read, because it's what I read as well. Some of them are happy for me, happy for this thing and curious to see how competitive we can be, some others, they are not happy with anything in life. So this was another thing for their own problems. It's OK. I think, different world."

Alonso has made clear his goal moving forward, whether it's more Indy 500 attempts or Le Mans, is to compete against the best in the world – including a driver like former F1 rival Juan Pablo Montoya, whom he competed against in F1 from 2001-06. Alonso couldn't resist taking a jab at the two-time Indy 500 winner.

"I don't know if he will be at the front," he joked. "This is great, to race against the best drivers in the world, that's the main thing. And here not only Juan Pablo, also Oriol Servia as well. There are a few driver, say 20, 25 percent of the drivers that I know from the F1 experience in the recent past. I'm really looking forward [to it].

"I think Juan Pablo's like one of the best drivers in the world, one of the most talented drivers I ever competed against, so to come here, to drive together on a superspeedway will be a massive thing for me. Hopefully I will learn as quick as I can, I'm watching his onboard because I think he's one of the best out there."


Fernando Alonso and Juan Pablo Montoya, 2005

[alberto.ascari]

Aujebote Radoje, španska serija....

 

Baš me zanima, da li će da ga osramote tamo, a ako se to desi, ko će biti kriv...

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Osramotiti se nece sigurno, jedino ako se ne usere nakon ovog prvog privatnog testa sto je dobio i ne odustane. Bude li makar samo i na kvalifikacije izasao pokazace da ima muda k'o lubenice, pa makar se i ne kvalifikovao za trku (a hoce - jer ne verujem da ce biti vise od 33 kandidata). Stagod da se posle desi cist je bonus, cak i da ga skrljaju na samom startu. Jedino cega se treba plasiti je da se ne povredi u nekom udesu.

 

Andretijev tim je jako dobar, pobedili su dvaput na zadnja tri Indija, prosle godine sa rukijem, za razliku od drugih "velikih" timova oni Indiju pristupaju bukvalno kao ekipa a ne svaki za sebe (dok Penskijevci i Ganasijevci dele setap i informacije ali na stazi svaki vozi svoju trku i ne gleda ostale, Andretijevci voze kao tim - vozaci se medjusobno pomazu u raznim fazama trke), Alonso ce na stazi imati petoricu saveznika od kojih ce moci da uci tokom celog Meseca Maja i na koje ce moci da se osloni u trci.

 

Tojest, barem tokom prvih 180 - 190 krugova, u finisu je divlji zapad.

 

Ne verujem da ima realne sanse za pobedu, top 10 bi bio odlican rezultat, top 5 fenomenalan, a samo da prodje kroz cilj u istom krugu kao vodeci bi vec bio uspeh. Ali bude li sve OK, mislim da se Alonsova Indi karijera nece zavrsiti na ovom jednom pokusaju...

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Bretzman to engineer Alonso Indy entry
Monday, 24 April 2017
Marshall Pruett / Images by LAT & Pruett


Fernando Alonso will have one of the most decorated race engineers in the paddock to oversee his Indy 500 debut as Andretti Autosport technical director Eric Bretzman has been assigned to the Spaniard for the month of May.

Bretzman, who moved from Chip Ganassi's organization to the Andretti squad during the offseason, earned his stripes as Scott Dixon's engineer where the two combined to win 34 IndyCar races, three championships and the 2008 Indy 500 during a 12-year span.

"Eric is going to be engineering Fernando's car, and he's been such an awesome addition all year," Andretti Autosport COO Rob Edwards told RACER. "We're only three races in, but we've come out of the blocks a lot stronger than we were a year ago and he's had a huge amount to do with that. A year ago, Craig Hampson would have been doing the extra car, but he's got a full-time job now, so using Eric means we can keep it all in-house."

In addition to engineering Alonso's Andretti/McLaren Honda program, Bretzman (BELOW) will also juggle his role as technical director for the team during its expansion to six cars for the 101st Indy 500.

"Obviously the balance there for us is all of his other roles and responsibilities, but he's going to have a very capable supporting cast on the car to help with the workload," Edwards said. "It's a natural extension of what we're doing for the rest of the year with people we have already."



With Alonso spending his Monday at the Andretti shop in Indianapolis to have a seat made (BELOW) and meet with more of the staff that will look after his effort, the team also confirmed the engineer for its sixth entry for Jack Harvey. Run in partnership with Michael Shank Racing, Harvey will have Zach Eakin to steer his rookie Indy 500 campaign.

"Zach came through the relationship we have with Mike Shank, and he was part of the original plan to run Stefan Wilson," Edwards added. "Stefan and Zach worked together last year at Indianapolis, and through the various shuffling that has gone on, it seemed logical to keep that piece in place."

Edwards expects Bretzman and Eakin to quickly blend into Andretti's deep pool of race engineering talent.

"Eric and Zach have some familiarity from working together in the past at Ganassi," he said. "In terms of building continuity over a short period of time, it made good sense to go with people who knew each other already."

Working with Alonso will return Bretzman to an IndyCar timing stand for the first time since the end of the 2014 season. After being shifted to Ganassi's NASCAR program in 2015, he spent two seasons away from open-wheel and watched as his race engineer brother Ben earned the 2016 IndyCar title at Team Penske with Simon Pagenaud. Through their respective drivers, the friendly family rivalry will resume next month at Indianapolis.

 

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Alonso impressed by 'beautiful' Borg-Warner Trophy
Monday, 24 April 2017
RACER Staff / Image by LAT


Fernando Alonso says he would be proud to add the Borg-Warner Trophy to a collection that includes two F1 world drivers' champion trophies and silverware from 32 grand prix victories.

The Spaniard saw the trophy for the first time at Andretti Autosport on Monday, where he was undergoing a seat fitting in preparation for his entry in this year's Indy 500.

"It's a beautiful trophy that I would be proud to take home if I won the Indianapolis 500," said Alonso.

"There are so many familiar faces on the trophy from the past and present that represent the greatest race in the world."

Alonso's admiration did come with a caveat. Indy winners are given a miniature 'Baby Borg' replica of the trophy, but should the McLaren F1 driver make it into Victory Lane at the Speedway, he joked that he'll be expecting to take a full-sized version home with him.

"Can I please get a full-sized trophy to take home if I win the race?" he said. "The small ones are nice, but a big one would be wonderful!"

Were Alonso to win, he would become the sixth F1 world champion to have his portrait added to the trophy. Jim Clark was the first when he won Indy in 1965, followed by Graham Hill, Mario Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi and Jacques Villeneuve.

[Hertzog]

Koliko mene smara ova sumrak saga by alonso. Postao je lrava starleta zeljna paznje. Toliko se forisraju vesti oko njega. Razumem ja sve i marketing i slicna pr sranja al brate iz pastete iskace. Gori je od kim kardasijan

[alberto.ascari]

Koliko mene smara ova sumrak saga by alonso. Postao je lrava starleta zeljna paznje. Toliko se forisraju vesti oko njega. Razumem ja sve i marketing i slicna pr sranja al brate iz pastete iskace. Gori je od kim kardasijan

 

 

Slažem se, postao je mega smor, tj. ovaj medijski hype oko njega.

 

Skoro bih voleo da ga operu, da bude negde +6 LAPS, samo da čujem kako bi se to komentarisalo.

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

McLarenHondaAndretti‏ @McLarenIndy
Sneak preview of our #McLarenHondaAndretti #Indy500 challenger in the paintshop. Loving that papaya orange livery.

 

RACER‏ @RACERmag

 

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.@alo_oficial continues #Indy500 preparation with simulator time, meetings with @FollowAndretti, @HondaRacing_HPD

 

[alberto.ascari]

Nijedan post od sinoć??

 

WTF, nestalo struje??

 

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Valjda se umorili ovi paparaci sto prate Alonsa i u WC kad ide.