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Andretti team impressed with Alonso

By Marshall Pruett / Images by Levitt & Williams/LAT

It should come as no surprise to learn the Andretti Autosport team came away from Wednesday's test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a healthy appreciation for Fernando Alonso's talent.
The one-day introductory outing, arranged by Andretti, its partners at the McLaren-Honda Formula 1 team and the Verizon IndyCar Series, gave the Formula 1 ace his first taste of oval driving at the 2.5-mile circuit where he'll make his Indy 500 debut on May 28.
New to the art of turning left, but far from inexperienced with how to prepare for a new challenge, Alonso made quite an impression on how he approached the daunting speedway during six hours of live streaming action.
"I would say [I'm] relieved the first live test we've ever been a part of went OK," Andretti COO Rob Edwards (pictured) told RACER. "It's the first test I've ever done where we had a production planning meeting beforehand! It was good, right? Why would we not expect him to do a good job, given his credentials?
"Given the amount of time he spent preparing, he's just super thorough about every aspect of it and has taken a lot of time and effort to educate himself about what to expect. I think it went every bit as well as we hoped it would, and fortunately the weather held off for us and we were able to tick all of the boxes on the test list."
Across 110 laps, Alonso completed IndyCar's Rookie Orientation Program, tried a number of aerodynamic setup changes and one mechanical change, got a feel for Firestone's tires, tried running in fuel conservation mode and simulated everything from race-like pit stops to caution periods. Altogether, the 35-year-old absorbed more in one day of intense learning at IMS than most rookie earn in a week of open practice.
"As everyone was able to see, we did yellow running, he was able to practice exiting off of Turn 4 which is something as a rookie he wouldn't have a chance to do until Carb Day," Edwards added. "His exploring nature [was seen]; a couple of times he just came in off of Turn 3 rather than Turn 4 because he was out to experience as many different aspects of the track as he could today. [I'm] impressed with everything he did, but not surprisingly impressed because that's very much his nature."
Alonso's race engineer clearly enjoyed the first day of working with his new driver.

"He'd been in the simulator for some laps, [and] of course you're never sure how that's going to pan out," said Eric Bretzman (pictured above), who won the 2008 Indy 500 and three IndyCar championships with Scott Dixon at Chip Ganassi Racing. "It was closer than what he expected so he was reasonably comfortably pretty quick. I think a lot of it was how he imagined; maybe not all of it.
"I think he's got a very good understanding and very good appreciation for the details and nuances of the track and the different corners and different lines. He's asking a lot of the right questions, seems to be worried about a lot of the right things. Pretty impressed."
More than a decade of working alongside Dixon has given Bretzman a solid understanding of what supreme talent looks and acts like when faced with new obstacles, and he found Alonso to be up for the task of becoming a serious contender at the Indy 500. Some Indy rookies step out of the car at the end of their first day feeling overwhelmed, but that wasn't what Bretzman saw with the Spaniard.

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Fernando Alonso, United Autosports Transition to Daytona


Two-time F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso and the United Autosports driver lineup give their thoughts on the 2018 Rolex 24 At Daytona and what it means to race in this iconic event. Watch the race live on FOX at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday, January 27.

https://imsatv.imsa.com/video/012018...sition-daytona