Fernando Alonso has made no secret of his impressions on racing in the Indianapolis 500 for the first time just a couple of weeks ago. He's even left the door open to racing there again. But a full-time switch from Formula One to IndyCars?
“Why not?” is what Alonso told NBCSN during IndyCar race at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend, as reported by Motorsport.com.
Speaking via phone from Montreal over Canadian Grand Prix weekend, Alonso said he is “very open to anything” and that his future in racing remains wide open. That could include leaving Formula One behind to compete in American open-wheel racing full time... especially if he doesn't have a potentially winning car to drive in F1 next season.
Though the move would certainly be unconventional, it wouldn't be completely unheard of, either. Take his former teammate (and fellow former world champ) Kimi Raikkonen, for example, who competed in the World Rally Championship and even some NASCAR races over 2010-11 when he didn't like his F1 options.
Alonso would hardly be the first F1 driver to compete in IndyCars, either. While he made an impressive debut at the Brickyard last month, Takuma Sato (another former F1 driver) took the checkered flag. And while more drivers have jumped from Indy to F1 than the other way around, champions like Emerson Fittipaldi, Nigel Mansell, and Juan Pablo Montoya found success in America after having proven themselves first on the world stage.
Winning the Indy 500 is one of the three pillars of the unofficial Triple Crown of Motorsport, alongside the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Monaco Grand Prix (or alternatively the F1 championship). Alonso has won each of the F1 criteria twice, has made no secret of his interest in Le Mans, and impressively lead 27 laps of this year's Indy 500 upon his oval-speedway debut.
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