Alonso hopes F1 'sophistication' will help him at Indianapolis
Fernando Alonso has revealed why his Indianapolis rookie test went so smoothly – and how he hopes F1 know-how will give him a better chance in the 500.
Alonso impressed by the way he smoothly and accurately went through the gradually increasing phases of the rookie test, but he admits that his job was made easier with some help from the Andretti team.
“I told the engineers to put me a reference lap from last year that was 210mph,” he said. “So for the first phase I tried to be two or three tenths slower than that reference lap, in the next I tried to be two or three quicker than that reference lap, then I tried to be around one second quicker than that reference lap.
“I asked the engineers to put some reference on the steering wheel, which they normally don’t do, so I think they take a very long time to pass the test. With a little help at least you control everything.”
He hopes that similar strategies will help him in the coming days: “Definitely it’s a good test for me to drive there. I will learn many things. In terms of technology and sophistication, F1 is in another level. So most of my chances will be to use that sophistication that we are used to driving with here, implementing there. I need to keep it secret!”
