Fernando Alonso’s hopes of competing in the 2020 Indy 500 continue to dwindle, with his offer to drive for Ed Carpenter Racing rejected by the team.
Searching for another race seat after Honda vetoed his place at Andretti Autosport, the two-time Formula 1 world champion had reportedly made himself available to Carpenter’s outfit, only for the American to turn him down.
A two-car team in the regular Indycar championship, Carpenter has already expanded his Chevrolet-powered effort to include fellow American Conor Daly, alongside Dutchman Rinus VeeKay and Carpenter himself.
“If we doubled the size of our team for May, it wouldn’t be good for everybody,” Carpenter told NBC Sports.
Asked what it would take to add a fourth car, Carpenter quipped: “Money, people and time.”
Locked-out of all Honda-powered teams as a result of his criticisms when driving with them in F1 at McLaren, Alonso’s pickings among Chevy-engined teams with a competitive package are slim and getting slimmer. For his part, Carpenter thinks the Spaniard should have seen the Honda veto coming.
“It had happened before,” he said. “The difference is Fernando is separated from McLaren. It was pretty surprising they got that far down the road before they realized it was going to become an issue with how public that dispute had become.”