Fernando Alonso overcame "tricky" wind conditions to finish fourth in the timesheets in Wednesday's practice for the Indy 500.

The McLaren Honda Andretti driver completed 39 laps with a best lap of 219.533mph around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval.

Ed Carpenter topped the charts with a 222.894mph lap for his Chevrolet-powered team.

Alonso, who finished 19th and 24th in practice on Monday and Tuesday, believed it had been another productive day as he continues to adapt to the demands of IndyCar from Formula 1.

"It was tricky, definitely," said Alonso. "The conditions today didn't help, so [there was] very little running for the big guys, but for me any condition is still a good lesson.

"So today was about that, learning how to drive with these strong winds and how to set up the car corner-by-corner.

"Everything went according to plan. The team used those runs also to test something in the back on engine tuning, so it was a productive day."

Alonso is missing next week's Monaco GP to compete in the Indy 500 as he attempts to become only the second person, after the late Graham Hill, to complete motorsport's Triple Crown.

"From the outside, compared to F1 circuits this looks more simple: only four corners. But the spread in terms of the speed from the first car to the last is just on small details which you can gain on set-up," the Spaniard said.

"Change a little spring on the front suspension and you can gain 0.3 of a mile on that - and that can make three or four places.

"What we are testing is very small tuning on set-up to gain milliseconds here and there."

Having twice won in Monaco, Alonso is attempting to add the Indy 500 and the Le Mans 24 Hours to his roll of honour before he retires.

The two-time F1 world champion admitted ahead of Wednesday's running that he was still coming to grips with his car.

"After the test at the beginning of May, the car was so different to drive and the place so different as well, I felt happy but not comfortable," he said.

"[Tuesday] after the traffic running I was much more comfortable and happier with the position I am now. There is still a lot to come.

"I'm in the simulator in the morning, in the car in the afternoon. I'm not ready yet but think I will be for qualifying and the race."

Indy 500 Wednesday Practice Time Sheet Driver Team Time Speed (mph) Ed Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing 0:40.3779 222.894 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 0:40.4315 222.599 JR Hildebrand Ed Carpenter Racing 0:40.8066 220.553 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda Andretti 0:40.9961 219.553 Conor Daly AJ Foyt Racing 0:41.0523 219.223 Max Chilton Chip Ganassi Racing 0:41.1199 218.872 Carlos Munoz AJ Foyt Racing 0:41.1260 218.840 Zach Veach AJ Foyt Racing 0:41.1643 218.636 Charlie Kimball Chip Ganassi Racing 0:41.2614 218.122 Jay Howard Schmidt Peterson Motorsports 0:41.4175 217.299 Tony Kanaan Chip Ganassi Racing 0:41.4638 217.057 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 0:41.5002 216.866 Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt Peterson Motorsports 0:41.5045 216.844 James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports 0:41.6025 216.333 Josef Newgarden Team Penske 0:56.3942 159.591 Jack Harvey Andretti Autosport/Mike Shank Racing 0:57.4418 156.680 Sage Karam Dreyer & Reinbold/Kingdom Racing 0:59.5514 151.130 Takuma Sato Andretti Autosport 1:21.9092 109.878 Alexander Rossi Andretti-Herta Autosport 1:23.8623 107.319 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport 1:27.5898 102.752 Oriol Servia Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 2:26.8176 61.301

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