Massive FAIL by Zak Brown.
Technically you qualify the car, not the driver. So, the could put him in another car but the amount of money would be extreme.
The deal is that Zak Brown wanted his "own Indy team" this year instead of using Andretti. In the end they used Andretti and Penske to help them even have a chance.
McLaren recent F1 failures now compounded by inability to set up an Indy car. Fred screwed by them in F1 and now In Indy car too. Should have stayed with Andretti.
If I was Juncos, my buyout number would be roughly equal to a budget to run the remainder of the INDYCAR season.
Alonso needs to ditch McLaren and take on Indy with someone else. Here's already proven he can do it. This whole McLaren Indy endeavor was stupid and the odds of it working out were extremely slim. They were beaten by teams with budgets that likely compare to the budget McLaren has for catering so it's EXTREMELY embarrassing for them to get knocked out like this.
I think you're correct but Alonso is getting free advertising for his fashion company. No one is going to give him that much of a sweetheart deal for one race. If he joined a team all year, I can see it. But a one off race almost anyone can win. Zak Brown kisses the bottom side of Alonso before he goes to sleep at night. Roger Penske ain't that kinda guy.
Pretty much sums it up --- seems like team organization was part of the problem. http://africa.espn.com/racing/indycar/story/_/id/26782795/alonso-fails-qualify-indy-500-hinchcliffe-in McLaren last raced in the Indy 500 in the 1970s but was back this season to both help Alonso complete his quest to win motorsports' version of the Triple Crown and as a feeler for a potential full-time IndyCar team. But the entire process has been a disaster from opening day because of electrical issues, an Alonso accident, a lengthy delay in rebuilding him a car, a tire puncture on his first qualifying attempt and, finally, a car too difficult to handle for Alonso to qualify in the top 30 on Saturday. McLaren head Zak Brown acknowledged the stress after the team tried a completely different setup in Sunday morning practice. But McLaren was about 10 minutes late getting on track, and the rear of the car dragged and sparked and had to return to the pits after one lap. The team got a total of six laps in before rain shortened practice, and McLaren spent a lengthy delay negotiating for parts from Andretti and advice from Penske and Chevrolet. Alonso was presented with a setup he had never felt when it was his turn to make his qualifying attempt, and it was his smoothest run of the week. It just wasn't fast enough.
Pretty good article here... Doyel: Fernando Alonso out of 2019 Indy 500 because McLaren wasn't prepared https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/columnists/gregg-doyel/2019/05/19/fernando-alonso-bumped-2019-indy-500-qualifying-due-incompetence-ims/3670736002/ INDIANAPOLIS – Fernando Alonso is watching his spot in the 2019 Indianapolis 500 disappear on Sunday, and he’s surrounded by media, and he’s not happy about this. Not happy at all. He has been doing a slow burn for almost 24 hours now, since his first attempts at qualifying on Saturday were a disaster, since his McLaren team worked on his car overnight, since he went back on the track earlier Sunday and left a trail of sparks because his car was, impossibly, sitting too low. And this whole effort has been beneath Alonso. Not his driving, not necessarily, but for sure the preparation around him, which turned strange Sunday morning when Alonso’s team turned the IMS paddock into a place of commerce according to IndyStar insider Jim Ayello, purchasing dampers for their car from Andretti Autosport. Alonso’s entry into the 2019 Indy 500, his first time back since he finished 24th in his debut in 2017, was announced seven months ago, but it seems his team didn’t take it as seriously as they might have. The results on Saturday and earlier Sunday speak for themselves, but people in Alonso’s camp were telling reporters quietly, not for attribution, “We didn’t come prepared.” (Later, Alonso will say the team went into the weekend with a race strategy that needed work.) That includes the makeup of his team, experienced at IMS but not exactly an all-star crew befitting an all-star driver. Remember, after working on Alonso’s car all night, his crew sent a car onto the track Sunday morning that was sitting too low, scraping the pavement, shooting sparks. They pulled the car from the track, made adjustments, and sent it back onto the track. More sparks. The incompetence has been breathtaking, as is what happened during the rain delay Sunday. In one garage at IMS, James Hinchcliffe’s garage, it is quiet. His car is ready even if it was a road car basically 24 hours earlier. Hinch’s crew reinvented the team’s backup car overnight after he crashed his main car Saturday, and now they are standing in a circle outside the garage, enjoying the sun. One of them is eating a slice of pizza. Around the corner is Alonso’s garage. Much different scene at 3:25 p.m., roughly an hour before showtime. With a crowd of about 50 fans staring, one crew member is lying on his back under the front of the car, working feverishly. Two are toward the rear, where the sparks were shooting. A fourth is on the side of the car, holding a wrench and asking a question: “How long do we have?” The first crew member, the one near the front, looks at his watch and says something. Here comes a fifth crew member. And a sixth. The area around Alonso’s car is an anthill of activity, and here comes a seventh guy from behind a wall. Now an eighth. Less than an hour later the car is towed to the track, where Alonso races four times around at an average speed of 227.353 mph. Karam goes next, then O’Ward, and now Kaiser. The second-year driver from Juncos Racing is crossing the bricks for the fourth and final time of his four-lap qualifying effort, and the entire scene is surreal: Rain has delayed Sunday’s qualifying for more than four hours, and a once-robust crowd is gone. The grandstands at Indianapolis Motor Speedway are almost empty. Above the finish line, above the bricks, there are about 300 fans. I’ve seen bigger crowds at JV basketball games, but then, this is Indiana. But that’s the Indianapolis 500, for heaven’s sake, and Fernando Alonso is one of the most famous drivers in the world, and wait – the results are in. Kaiser has finished in 227.372 mph, third of the six drivers in the Final Row Shootout. Alonso is 34th. He's out. Alonso has been watching on a hand-held TV monitor near the fans, near the media, and he is whisked away to a waiting golf cart. He is trying to smile, but not quite pulling it off. Moments later he walks onto an elevator at the media center, where he is determined to speak to reporters as quickly as possible. There are six of us on the elevator, and Alonso is letting down his guard. He takes off his sunglasses and glares. He is scratching at his neck, then going under his fire suit with his fingers, clawing at his chest. Someone is suggesting he head back to the track. He doesn’t need to do an interview now. “Everyone will think we’re hiding,” he says, and the elevator continues to rise. “Everyone’s following us. They’re not even following the first nine.” It’s mostly true. The biggest story Sunday during 2019 Indianapolis 500 qualifying was the failure of Fernando Alonso to qualify,not Simon Pagenaud’s pole or the continued Indianapolis 500 qualifying dominance of Butler grad Ed Carpenter, starting on the front row at the Indy 500 again, second this year, ahead of two Ed Carpenter Racing teammates: Spencer Pigot (third) and Ed Jones (fourth). Alonso is waiting to speak to the media, but there has been a change of plans. He is told he has an hour to wait. He can stay here, an IMS official is saying, or he can take a golf cart back to his … Fernando Alonso doesn’t wait for the rest of that sentence. He’s heading to the elevator, heading back down. His descent continues. So will the 103rd Indianap
I'm sure the sponsors will still get a decent amount of coverage with all the news about the car not qualifying. They are getting more coverage than anyone else and it will likely persist until race day.
Wayne Taylor Racing had no problem doing it and they won the Rolex 24 along with gaining a ton of worldwide media attention as a result. Penske and more than likely Ganassi would have no interest in it but other teams would love the exposure if you ask me. There are teams that run extra cars at just Indy. I have no doubts some teams would love the extra exposure for a couple of weeks even if there's a Kimoa sticker on the side of their car. Although after two years of trying at Indy I think that value is decreasing. I'm a huge Alonso fan but this McLaren relationship isn't good for either of them. Time to move on. McLaren has a lot of issues and catering to a retired gun for hire is not something they should be using up bandwidth on.
Sorry for Fernando but the team apart of Gil de Ferran seemed woefully under par from the start. Congratulations on pole position for Simon P the first Frenchman on pole at the Indy 500 since...1919! Rene Thomas was on pole that year in his Ballot (somehow he hasn't yet complimented Monsieur Pagenaud;-). It is also the first Indy 500 pole for a European since Arie Luyendik in 1999.
Didn't Shakespeare once say "To Fred or not to Fred that is the question"? I guess Indy chose not to Fred. Try again next Freddy boy !
TP, I value you opinion muchly. I posted a response to loki on another Indy thread the following. 'Close? "loki, on 19 May 2019 - 19:42, said: Image Unavailable, Please Login Everyone that follows the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race knows the car and driver are both important. Image Unavailable, Please Login " Agreed with a caveat....You definitely need to do the best possible with car setup. Yes there's a reason, as follows. We just witnessed it: Contrary to popular belief, the best drivers in the world cannot make a lesser car do what it can't do. They naturally get the most it has to offer; no more. Physics don't allow many "fans" fantasy "magic". With a little time, you can teach a lesser driver with intelligente to derive from a good car what it can do. Racing is reality, not Cindarella. In this case, by a fantastic coincidence, Graham Hill is the perfect example. He was not a "natural" like Jimmy (I know, properly Jim...we foolish fond Americans.....), but, with work, he was able to get the job done. In 2017 Alonso had the setup, which, with his natural ability, let him shine at a new environment for him. This year, for certain, he had no "magic". Racing is real life, not Cindarella. The series (all, not just IndyCar) and media try to promote the fairy tale aspect for the "show" and there are "fans" that suck it up and enjoy the "show". But no matter how much lipstick you put on the pig, it's still a pig. Reality remains reality, no matter how much you "spin"(the lipstick) it. If you've been in the trenches of anything, you know there's the real thing and, by the unknowing, the falsely perceived fantasy version wanted for their entertainment. The real thing happened this weekend and in 2017. In 2017 those "fans" got what they perceived was Alonso "magic". This year they got a taste of reality. I don't blame McLaren or anyone for their going home. For what little time they had after the wreck, they weren't that far off the bottom pace. It could easily have gone another way for them. "Back in the day" when it was "the month of May" they prolly would have been in. Again, reality. They didn't . 'Just one week. Sheet happens. This year it happened to them. You (should) live and learn, eh? Image Unavailable, Please Login
And, imagine, Spanish TV signed a lucrative (READ: Expensive) contract for the broadcast rights to televise the Indy 500 in Spain on Movistar per a deal that Alonso and his management put together based on a business model that Nigel Mansell put together for himself and British TV when he made the jump over to CART, reported to be valued into the tens of millions of dollars. Spain may take heart though, at least Servia made the field. Heads must be rolling at Movistar today. http://www.sportspromedia.com/news/movistar-dazn-exclusive-indycar-rights-deportes BHW
McLaren apologizes to Alonso http://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/26785752/mclaren-apologises-fernando-alonso-indy-500-failure
that's why I'm surprised McLaren isn't buying Alonso a seat. between this and dragging all their F1 partners into an Indy deal, lots of B2B relationships got messed up yesterday afternoon. I would think the commercial pressures would override the sporting/ego pressures to take the defeat and go home.
If Alonzo is serious about winning the 500, I think he should partner up with Ed Carpenter Racing, they seem to always have a good car(s) at Indy and could use the cash infusion. I don't think any of the top teams are interested in helping at this point.
Al Unser Jr busted for DWI, again. https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2019/05/20/al-unser-jr-arrested-owi-dui-avon-indiana-indy-500/3738991002/
They are a Chevy team so this could work. Part me of wonders if Alonso is trying his best to do all of this while not paying any money out of his own pocket, however. Re: TheMayor - I think he'll be back without McLaren. He's made it clear that the Triple Crown is extremely important for him. Indy is all that's left.
