Former Force India deputy team principal Robert Fernley has left the McLaren IndyCar outfit in the wake of Fernando Alonso’s failure to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. Fernley was announced as president of the McLaren IndyCar project last November, some three months after he left his Force India role following the takeover of the Formula

McLaren’s 2019 IndyCar return has gone from a planned full-season with proven champions targeted as Fernando Alonso’s team-mates, to failing to qualify for a one-off Indianapolis 500 appearance. This is the timeline of how the project unravelled. September 2018 Alonso makes his first IndyCar outing since the 2017 Indy 500 as he tests an unbranded

Fernando Alonso says he did everything he possibly could to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, but the McLaren IndyCar entry was simply never fast enough. The double Formula 1 world champion and his team, which was running largely independently bar an alliance with Carlin, ended up among the six entrants fighting for the final three

McLaren has ruled out getting Fernando Alonso into the Indianapolis 500 by buying a rival IndyCar team’s entry, following its shock failure to qualify for the race. A troubled practice and qualifying week for the team, which was running independently for Alonso’s second Indy 500 bid bar an alliance with Carlin, culminated in its double

Simon Pagenaud gave Penske its first Indianapolis 500 pole for seven years in qualifying for the 2019 edition of IndyCar’s premier race. The ‘Fast Nine’ pole shootout ran straight after the shock events of the last row-setting session in which Fernando Alonso and McLaren were bumped out of the field by Kyle Kaiser and the

Fernando Alonso and McLaren failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, as they were bumped out of the field by Kyle Kaiser and the cash-strapped Juncos Racing team. A fraught week of practice and qualifying meant Alonso ended up one of six drivers fighting for the three spaces on the back row of the grid.

The six drivers fighting to get onto the Indianapolis 500 grid got only 20 minutes of practice on Sunday morning before rain, and Fernando Alonso had a major set-up issue. Alonso and McLaren were only 31st fastest in Saturday’s first qualifying session, leaving them up against Max Chilton and Patricio O’Ward from the affiliated Carlin

Fernando Alonso says failing to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 would be “what we deserve” if McLaren cannot find more speed in Sunday’s ‘Bump Day’ session. Double Formula 1 world champion Alonso fell 0.02mph short of guaranteeing a place on the grid for his IndyCar return during first qualifying on Saturday, his 227.224mph average from

Ed Carpenter Racing’s Spencer Pigot edged Penske’s trio of drivers to top Saturday’s qualifying session for the Indianapolis 500, as James Hinchcliffe and Fernando Alonso missed the cut. Under the Indy 500 qualifying format, all 36 entrants are permitted a four-lap run of the 2.5-mile circuit, and then had the opportunity to improve on their

McLaren’s Fernando Alonso topped the final practice ahead of 2019 Indianapolis 500 qualifying, where just six cars took part in the session. Alonso, who admitted on Friday that he was worried about his prospects of qualifying for the 103rd running of the Indy 500 following the problems he has endured in the earlier practice sessions,

Juncos Racing’s already questionable entry for the 2019 Indianapolis 500 suffered a huge blow early in ‘Fast Friday’ practice when Kyle Kaiser crashed. The 2017 Indy Lights champion was commencing a qualifying simulation with the car trimmed out and running the 1.4-bar turbo boost that the IndyCar teams will use for qualifying this weekend. At

It is Indianapolis 500 qualifying this weekend, and while IndyCar has changed over the years the emotion around its premier race has not waned. One man very familiar with what the teams will be thinking going into this weekend’s battles both for pole and to avoid being ‘bumped’ is legendary Indy mechanic and fabricator Eamon

Fernando Alonso and McLaren have one final day of Indianapolis 500 practice to recover lost ground after the two-time Formula 1 champion’s crash and loss of Thursday running. Alonso has completed just 96 laps over the past three days of practice, compared to the 302 laps that busiest driver Spencer Pigot of Ed Carpenter Racing

Ed Carpenter Racing Scuderia Corsa driver Ed Jones topped a third day of practice for the Indianapolis 500 cut short by rain and thunderstorms. The final hour and a half of the planned seven hours of running was scrubbed off, ensuring Chevrolet-powered Jones’s eighth lap of 37, a 227.843mph effort set in the morning, remained

New Red Bull Formula 1 junior Patricio O’Ward walked away from a crash on the third day of practice for the Indianapolis 500 in which his car was briefly airborne. Carlin driver O’Ward was running behind three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves when he appeared to turn in too sharply at Turn 2 – as

One-time IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden put Penske top of Thursday practice for the Indianapolis 500, as both Fernando Alonso and Felix Rosenqvist crashed. Chevrolet-powered Newgarden lapped the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at 228.856mph to edge out Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda’s Scott Dixon by 0.021mph. Ed Carpenter Racing, which took pole for the 2018 race through team owner

McLaren’s Fernando Alonso has explained the cause of his crash in IndyCar practice for the 2019 Indianapolis 500. Alonso’s #66 McLaren Racing-Chevrolet made contact at Turn 3, having added 46 laps to his total of 50 on Tuesday. Why Alonso’s second Indy 500 will be much harder The former Formula 1 driver was running directly

Will Power and Simon Pagenaud put Team Penske at the top on the opening day of 2019 Indianapolis 500 practice, while Fernando Alonso had further electrical problems. Power got a major tow to set his fastest speed of 229.745mph, on his 41st of 68 laps edging team-mate and last weekend’s Indianapolis road course race winner

Gil de Ferran admits that McLaren going it alone at the 2019 Indianapolis 500 is a “big step”, but insists that the team has not underestimated the challenge. De Ferran is now McLaren’s sporting director, but he began his association with the team by working as an advisor to Fernando Alonso in 2017, as the

Jack Harvey hopes his breakthrough IndyCar podium on the Indianapolis road course boosts his chance of securing a first full season in the series in 2020. The 2014 and ’15 Indy Lights runner-up – and 2012 British Formula 3 champion – has a 10-round IndyCar programme with the Meyer Shank Racing and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports

Ganassi IndyCar duo Felix Rosenqvist and Scott Dixon were puzzled by grip and tyre problems hurting them in the Indianapolis road course race they had swept the front row for. Rookie Rosenqvist made a strong start from his first series pole and led the first 15 laps but fell to fourth following the second restart

Penske’s Simon Pagenaud claimed his first IndyCar win since the 2017 season finale with a late pass on Scott Dixon in a rain-hit end to the Indianapolis road course race. Rain had been expected throughout the afternoon, with variable levels of drizzle making the track unpredictable all race. Eventual lead combatants Dixon and Pagenaud ran

Felix Rosenqvist grabbed his first IndyCar pole by edging five-time champion Ganassi team-mate Scott Dixon in a very cold Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course qualifying. Rosenqvist’s decisive lap was 0.0194 seconds faster than Dixon’s, earning the rookie pole with a 1m08.278s. The surprise of the 53 degrees fahrenheit session was part-time competitor Jack Harvey, who

Colton Herta went fastest for Harding Steinbrenner Racing-Honda in second free practice for the IndyCar Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Herta was 0.378 seconds clear of the field on the primary tyres and was also comfortably quickest on Firestone’s alternate compound. Ultimately, he was 0.2078sec faster than Chip Ganassi Racing’s Felix

IndyCar rookie Patricio O’Ward has been added to Red Bull’s junior driver scheme. Indy Lights champion O’Ward joined Carlin for the 2019 IndyCar campaign shortly after parting ways with previous squad Harding-Steinbrenner Racing on the eve of the season, when it became clear the team could not offer him a full-year drive. The 20-year-old Mexican

IndyCar has brought the debut of its new cockpit protection system, dubbed ‘Advanced Frontal Protection’ (AFP), forward to its the next race on the Indianapolis road course. The series had previously stated its aim was to have the titanium deflector in permanent use from this year’s Indy 500 on May 26. But following this week’s

Fernando Alonso said running only 29 laps of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Wednesday’s test meant he cannot yet judge whether the McLaren Dallara-Chevrolet IndyCar package will be competitive. Seven hours of Indy 500 testing had been scheduled for Wednesday, split between sessions for full-season IndyCar drivers, a ‘rookies and refreshers’ session for newcomers and

Takuma Sato put Rahal Letterman Lanigan on top on a heavily rain disrupted first day of Indianapolis 500 testing, as Colton Herta led the ‘rookie’ session featuring Fernando Alonso. Rain caused a four-hour delay early in the initial ‘veterans’ session on Wednesday, with just 28 laps completed before the first stoppage. When the session resumed,

JR Hildebrand is to return to Dreyer & Reinbold Racing for the 2019 Indianapolis 500, this time carrying the #48 made famous by Dan Gurney. The Dennis Reinbold squad will retain the same driver line-up as last year, with Hildebrand partnering Sage Karam. Hildebrand has made eight Indy 500 starts and almost took a win

IndyCar stewards have set a confusing precedent with their decision to penalise Graham Rahal for blocking Scott Dixon in Long Beach, says Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing president Piers Phillips. Rahal beat Dixon to third on the road in Sunday’s race but was demoted to fourth post-race because IndyCar race control – run by Kyle Novak,