Alonso to use Indianapolis 500 helmet design for US GP

2017 United States Grand Prix

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Fernando Alonso will reprise the helmet design he used at the Indianapolis 500 for next weekend’s United States Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver skipped the Monaco Grand Prix to take part in the race, which he led for 27 laps before retiring with a blown engine.

However Alonso has said he is unlikely to return to the race in 2018 despite his desire to win the race as part of motor racing’s ‘triple crown’.

Pictures: Sato wins an incident-packed Indianapolis 500
“The triple-crown is a clear target for me in the future,” said Alonso in Singapore. “There are three races there so if one of those, the Indy 500, is together with Monaco, as we know, there is another one still to complete.”

“I agree the same thing that Zak [Brown, McLaren CEO] said: if I remain in Formula One it’s because I believe I can win next year. So that will ease the decision a lot because I will be in Monaco because I don’t want to lose any points there.”

“So the priority is Formula One, as I said before, and winning here, and the triple crown is in the background. As I said, there are three races, not only Indy. So, there are many possibilities to do a fantastic 2018.”

Former F1 driver Takuma Sato, who was one of Alonso’s team mate’s in the race, won the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500 in May. Alonso won $300,000 in the race despite retiring 20 laps from the end.

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    Fernando Alonso, McLaren Honda Andretti, IndyCar, Indianapolis, 2017

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    18 comments on “Alonso to use Indianapolis 500 helmet design for US GP”

    1. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
      13th October 2017, 13:33

      Awesome. if only they’d use the livery too

      1. +1 The Indy car was beautiful!

    2. He should use this livery period.

    3. Wow Keith, I think you’re the first publication to not use Dixon mid-air as the picture to represent “an incident-packed Indianapolis 500.”

    4. “Pictures: Sato wins an incident-packed Indianapolis 500″
      Oh, come on, Keith, isn’t that a tad sensationalistic? There was fewer crashes across 800 kilometres of racing than most F1 GPs, which are only 300km, and even those are rarely called that.

      Anyhoo, I can already see a huge IndyCar “lobby” among fans and media during the whole GP weekend. And good so! :) I hope the nostalgia hits Nando right in the feels…

      1. @damon You seem to be confusing incident with accident.

        1. @anonymouscoward
          Well, indeed :) But were there many incidents that weren’t accidents?

    5. Love love love that helmet livery, as well as that he is going to use it at the US GP. So cool.

    6. Awesome, I loved Alonso’s helmet for the Indy 500, I hope he retains that style for the future instead of switching to his usual one.

    7. Perfect! I loved the helmet design! Now Mclaren could take a cue from Alonso and also change the colours of the cars!

    8. Ooh, I really like this helmet. Not sure why, but it really works for me.

      May be its just the cleanliness of the design, rather than prevalent designs that tend to have the design density of a bank note.

    9. Strong dislike. Very dull wannabe-retro look. Alonso already has his own distinct style so I don’t see the point of this change.

    10. Looks like something my grandmother owned in the 70’s…

      Ugly design, but I appreciate him being able to wear it… banning helmet livery changes was one of the stupidest things ecclestone did.

    11. Really nice design. I can’t wait to see Alonso with a smile again on his face running IndyCar full time.

    12. Come on now! Tell us how you really feel.

    13. Ohhh, what a relevant information…. maybe he could use that ridiculous 1571 points record helmet in another race.

    14. He’ll be the most popular driver there I have no doubt.

    Comments are closed.