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Alonso "learning every lap" in traffic
Fernando Alonso described his first serious running in traffic on the second day of practice for the Indianapolis 500 as “very positive”.
Edd Straw
Edited: Feb 21, 2018, 10:59 PM
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The McLaren Honda Andretti driver completed 117 laps during practice, more than any other driver, and ended up 24th fastest with a best lap at 221.029mph.
From early on, he focused on running with and around other cars, with two segments of the day dedicated to running with his Andretti Autosport teammates.
“It was a very positive and productive day with a lot of laps and a lot of learning,” said Alonso. “[We did] some group running finally with some traffic, information that I will sleep on and be a better oval driver tomorrow.”
Although this was the first time Alonso was able to run in traffic for long periods, having only very briefly run with other cars yesterday, he was not surprised by the experience.
“It felt OK, it felt as I expected,” he said. “Obviously, here it is very important to keep close to the car in front of you to take the benefit on the next straight, so it was useful.”
He stated that being part of a six-car Andretti Autosport team was a big help for him in understanding how to run in traffic.
“I’m on the best team for that,” he said. “My teammates were amazing helping me. I knew they were taking care of me in some moments of the run, so that was good.
“It’s the first time for me, learning here and ther,e every lap when I follow them – what they do, how they attack the next corner or the next lap, how they prepare the overtaking.”
Alonso added that his approach to the race is one of round-the-clock dedication, with morning work in the Honda simulator in Indianapolis helping to accelerate his progress.
“It’s 24 hours dedication for the last month and a half,” said Alonso. “Studying the data that the team provides me, watching a lot of videos of races from the past years.
“In the morning, I go to the simulator, in the afternoons I come here and I keep doing laps and learning.
“We didn’t put everything together because there’s no time to. We keep experimenting on the setup, experimenting on running in traffic. But I think we will arrive quite OK for qualifying and the race.”
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