F1 News
Alonso "unsure" over Indy 500 qualifying
Fernando Alonso says that there are “no guarantees” that he will qualify for Sunday’s Indy 500.
The Spaniard was 24th in practice, with an average speed of 229.328mph, more than two mph slower than the leader, Conor Daly.
Earlier in the week, Alonso suffered electrical problems and had a crash into the wall, so it hasn’t been the perfect week so far for the two time F1 champion, who made it into the ‘Fast Nine’ on his race debut two years ago.
He said: "Tomorrow, I think the pick-up order and when you will do the run is going to be a big factor if it's a hot day.
"So yeah, if we are in the wrong moment of the day, which it seems that the luck will put us this week… There are no guarantees."
Alonso was randomly selected as the 42nd car to run in qualifying on Saturday.
He was more positive about Friday’s running, adding: "It was a positive day for us, and we were able to put the car on track and try different directions on the setup and learn a little bit about the track and the day.
"Obviously the boost was up today, so the speeds were higher, and it was more a quali preparation than race setups.
"But we had a lot of new tyres from the last couple of days so we were able to do a lot of runs, and hopefully that information will give us tomorrow a little bit of confidence into qualifying.
"It was more about the setup of the car, not necessarily on the trimming or on the aerodynamic side.”
Qualifying begins at 11:00am Indianapolis time, making that 4pm in the UK.