Zak Brown has overseen a remarkable turnaround of McLaren’s fortunes in IndyCar from failing to qualify for the Indy 500 in 2019 to now being a consistent frontrunner.
They first tackled the Indy 500 with two-time Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso in 2017 in a one-off entry.
The news was a surprise as the Spaniard would race in the IndyCar event, even skipping the Monaco Grand Prix in an attempt to take a step towards the triple crown.
McLaren were floundering in Formula 1 at the time, struggling to score points and coming to the end of a difficult partnership with their engine supplier, Honda.
But, speaking on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Dirty Mo Media podcast, Brown has explained that McLaren offered a mixed reaction when he suggested the idea of Alonso making his Indy 500 debut.
Zak Brown thought he got himself ‘in trouble’ when Fernando Alonso told him he wanted to race at Indianapolis
Alonso had become increasingly frustrated with Formula 1 as he was unable to challenge at the front of the field and win races like earlier in his career.
He was running at the back of the grid in an unreliable McLaren Honda that was rarely in contention for points.
The Spaniard has since gone on race at Le Mans with levels of success in his career and at the Indy 500 with varying results before returning to F1 in 2021.
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Yet Brown explained the reaction he received was not of total support for Alonso debuting at Indianapolis with McLaren at the expense of the Monaco GP.
He said: “I said, ‘Why don’t we pull Fernando out of Monaco and put him in the Indy 500?’ Everyone thought I was nuts.
“I even thought I was a bit nuts. They totally supported it, ‘Hey, if you think that’s good, you’re not really going to give away a result in Monaco because we were running 15, 16, 17’. It was huge news.
“It was funny the way that went down with Fernando. I threw it out as a joke. Then we had dinner, and I think it was in China. Then he started asking a lot of questions.”
Despite Alonso seeming interested in the prospect of racing at the Indy 500, the Spaniard’s manager was less optimistic, although they were proven wrong.
Brown added: “I’m like, ‘I think I might’ve got myself in a little bit of trouble here, you might want to do this thing’. Then we left dinner, and his manager said to me, ‘No, he’s going to sleep on it. He’s not going to want to do it’. Then he came up the next morning and went, ‘Let’s do it’.”
Fernando Alonso has had a chequered history with the Indy 500
The Indy 500 is the biggest event on the IndyCar calendar and Alonso was very impressive on his debut in 2017.
He led the race and improved significantly when tackling restarts before his Honda engine expired and his chance of victory had gone.
Alonso returned in 2019 and suffered the embarrassment of being bumped out of the field by Kyle Kaiser in Last Chance Qualifying.
A third attempt took place a year later. Although he did make it to the field and compete, the McLaren driver could not compete for the win and finished in 21st place.
McLaren have since improved at The Brickyard in IndyCar. Mexican driver Pato O’Ward finished second this year and will drive for McLaren in FP1 ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix in F1.