Brown: Indianapolis bites if you get it wrong

Two years ago, Alonso starred at the Brickyard winning hearts and minds of media and fans while showing strongly during the race which he led for a spell until the Honda in the back of the orange #29 Dallara expired.

During the recent Autosport Show, McLaren team chief Zak Brown gave insight into the project headed by former Force India deputy team chief Bob Fernley, with two times Indy 500 winner Gil de Ferran also on hand to assist.

Brown said, "Indianapolis is a difficult place that bites if you get it wrong. We’ve seen Rahal not qualify there before, Penske not qualify, Schmidt Peterson last year with Hinchcliffe, so you’ve got to get your baseline right.

"We’re trying to think about winning the race as opposed to not qualifying for it but those are the two different extremes. We’ve got Gil de Ferran, who’s won the race a couple of times and ran a team, so he obviously has a wealth of experience."

"Bob Fernley, who’s responsible for putting it all together, he’s been back at Indy in the good old days. He was brought in because he’s a really good operator and knows his way around Indy. He’s in charge of making sure we hire all the right people."

Team building for the new Indy project is an ongoing process explained the McLaren team chief, "We’ve yet to announce the individuals, but the engineer has won the Indianapolis 500 four times in about the last 15 years."

"He’s very current. We’ve got crew chief that was on Fernando’s car in 2017, Michael [Andretti] was kind enough to let him join us, so we’ve got a very experienced team using some of the hands that we have at McLaren."

"We have people who put their hands up and said they would like to be involved in IndyCar or have been in the past. I’m confident it’s going to be very difficult, but I’m also very confident that we are going about it in the right way to give Fernando a chance to win," added Brown.

Apart from Alonso's foray in 2017, McLaren have had success at the race winning in 1974 and 1976 with Johnny Rutherford powered by Offenhauser. This year they have Chevrolet as their engine partner.

https://www.grandprix247.com/2018/12/04/chevrolet-to-power-mclaren-at-2019-indianapolis-500/