Alonso, Aston Martin, Oostenrijk, — Photo: © LAT Images

Fernando Alonso

Former F1 star hails Alonso as the most ‘COMPLETE’ driver

Michael Andretti talks about how impressed he was with Fernando Alonso during Indianapolis entries

Shay Rogers

Sunday 16 July 2023 16:57

Fernando Alonso has attempted to run in the Indy500 three times across the course of his career, qualifying twice and failing to finish inside the top 20 once.

Despite his unlucky run of form at the Brickyard, the Spaniard still managed to impress team-owner Michael Andretti during his stint with the Andretti team in 2017, which was his best outing of the three.

Despite leading a total of 27 laps and qualifying in fifth place, reliability got the better of Alonso, as he was denied a chance to earn a crucial victory towards the triple crown.

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Now enjoying a very successful stint with Aston Martin, at 41 years old, he looks about as young on the track as he ever has.

The king of small details

Speaking to Spanish publication Marca, Andretti spoke about the incredible talents that Alonso continues to possess to this day.

He said: “He is the complete driver. He is not only fast, he is also intelligent. He impressed me when he worked with us in Indianapolis.

“Theoretically what he needed was to get confident with driving the car, but he was aware of all the other things: 'How do I do the pit stops? What are the starts like?' He was very on top of all those little details. That impressed me. As team manager he is the most complete driver you could wish for.”

His stint at Aston Martin, and the success he has enjoyed over team-mate Lance Stroll has helped to reaffirm that he remains one of the best drivers on the grid and is something Michael Andretti agrees with, saying that:

“Finally, he is in a competitive car, and he is getting the most out of it. In all the teams, the ones he's been in he's been the leader, he's almost always outperformed his teammates in qualifying and in the race, so I'm not surprised.”

With Alonso set to enjoy a few more years ahead of him in Formula 1, could it be a while before we see him attempt to compete at Indianapolis again?