Jim Ayello

jim.ayello@indystar.com

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Fernando Alonso sees the big picture. And now he wants the world to see it with him.

He doesn’t care if you’re a Formula One fan, an IndyCar fan or anything else. Racing is racing, the Spaniard said, and there is only one thing that matters: being the best in the world.

That’s why the internationally known F-1 star has decided to skip the Monaco Grand Prix, cross the Atlantic Ocean and compete in the Indianapolis 500. Because when you get to be 35 years old, as Alonso is, you don’t have time to care about petty squabbles over which is series is superior.

That just doesn’t matter.

“When you’re young, you’re focused on racing and winning and everything on the track side,” Alonso told IndyStar in a one-on-one interview Sunday before the Grand Prix of Alabama. “But with time and with experience, with 16 years in Formula One ... your values change. You change as a person. (You start thinking) about your legacy. I start seeing more the big picture.

“I want to be remembered as the best driver in the world.”

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And the best way the two-time world champion can figure to do that is to do something only one other driver in motor sports history (Graham Hill) has accomplished: Win the racing triple crown (Monaco, Indy 500 and 24 Hours at Le Mans).

So with a pair of Monaco championships in the bank, it’s on to Indy.

The task ahead of him, he knows, is daunting. But he’s ready, eager even, to put in the work. In fact, Alonso’s already begun. Make no mistake, the McLaren driver didn’t come to Alabama during what little off time he has just to amuse North American media with jokes about Juan Pablo Montoya — though he did that, too.

He came here to learn.

Alonso, who will race under the flag of Andretti Autosport, said he already has watched the past three 500s front to back. And after his test session May 3 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he said, he will continue to watch old videos and study data.

But the fact of the matter is he’s never driven an Indy car, never raced on a superspeedway. He will only have the May 3 test and about two weeks of preparation to draw on before trying his hand at one of the most competitive and demanding races in the world. The learning curve, Alonso concedes, will be massive.

“(I’m) a rookie — or even less than a rookie,” Alonso said during Sunday’s news conference before listing the obstacles he will have to overcome. “The traffic, I think the level of downforce, the feeling with the car, running with a car that is not symmetric on the straits, on breaking. Traffic I think is a big thing, at least what I’m hearing. ... I think the restarts, you know, the strategies are a little bit different, as well. But as I said before, I’m with the best team possible for the type of lessons that I need to learn.”

Gil de Ferran will coach him, and Michael Andretti will call the race for Alonso, who will have the opportunity to learn the IMS course’s ins and outs from veterans Takuma Sato, Marco Andretti and a pair of former 500 champions in Ryan Hunter-Reay and Alexander Rossi.

Many have suggested Rossi’s victory as a rookie as one of the biggest advantages Alonso will have in trying to snare the second jewel of the triple crown. Alonso said while it’s comforting to know Andretti has been through a process like this before with a rookie — who was famously clueless about Indy cars — Rossi’s victory might have given the world the wrong impression about how tough it is to win the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

“The perception from many people in Europe or Asia who don’t follow Indy so close is that last year they know a rookie won the Indy 500, so this year will be easy (for me),” Alonso told IndyStar. “In a way, I’m happy to have that experience and to be on the same team as him and learn form him, but on the other side (some people) will look at it like I should be winning. ‘If Alexander did it, why not?’”

In other words, Alonso knows he’s a long shot. But he made clear that he will enjoy as much of the experience as he can, and if he cannot pull off a second straight 500 upset, he and Indy will meet again. Soon.

“I want to win the triple crown,” Alonso told IndyStar. “So if I don’t do it this year, I have to do it next year.”

Follow IndyStar Motor Sports Insider on Twitter and Instagram: @jimayello.



