Fernando Alonso's close aide rules out Indy 500 return: "He's fully crazy dedicated to F1"

Fernando Alonso's return to the Indy 500 in the near future has been ruled out. The Aston Martin driver's business partner and friend, Oriol Servià, revealed that the two-time F1 champ is focused solely on his F1 career.

Alonso has competed at the Indy 500 thrice. On his debut in 2017, he was close to winning the race and led 27 laps. However, an engine failure abruptly ended his race. The Spaniard's return to the "Greatest Spectacle of Racing" in 2019 with McLaren was severely underwhelming, as he failed to even qualify for the race.

In his third attempt at winning the 'Triple Crown' event in 2020, Fernando Alonso started in 26th, made his way up to 15th by the midpoint of the race, and then suffered a clutch problem which led to a P21 finish. The Indy 500 is the only part of the motorsport's triple crown that he has yet to conquer, having already won both the Monaco GP and the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice.

Oriol Servià recently shined a light on the 43-year-old F1 driver's potential return to the famous IndyCar race on the RACER Channel on YouTube.

"Alonso, when he has a Formula 1 contract, he's fully crazy dedicated only to that," Servia, the official IndyCar pace car driver, said. "And there was another thing that came up that maybe he was going to do... like zero chance. There's no chance he's going to even think about the (Indy) 500, Le Mans (or) anything else while he's racing F1."

"He's crazy, crazy. Honestly, even at this stage, not just of his age... of having been in Formula 1 for 20-something years - (he's) so driven, motivated. He is a beast, he is a lion. You see it when he's driving. But when you know him and when you talk to him, it's all he thinks about and he's a machine, he really is. So until he retires (from) Formula One full-time, I don't think we going to see him at the (Indy) 500," the former IndyCar driver explained.

Fernando Alonso signed a multi-year contract renewal with Aston Martin in April 2024 to stay with the Silverstone outfit for 2025 and beyond. While the team's drop in performance after mid-2023 has been pitiful, the arrival of technical mastermind Adrian Newey from Red Bull this season and a Honda partnership for 2026 and beyond will most likely make them a frontrunner when the new regulations kick in next season.

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The Indy 500's 'danger' factor spooks Fernando Alonso from returning for a 4th attempt

Fernando Alonso at the Formula 1 Testing in Bahrain - Day 2 - Source: Getty

In May 2022, Fernando Alonso spoke with the BBC about a potential return to the Indy 500. He admitted that winning the race had become "less of a goal". The arrival of the aeroscreen on an Indy car, a safety feature like the halo on an F1 car, changed the feel of the car for him.

"The last two attempts in Indy with the aeroscreen made me feel the car a little bit different, and talking with some of the colleagues there, definitely the cars are more difficult to drive and difficult to follow each other. So it is less fun," Alonso explained. "In 2017, there were a lot of overtaking, and I loved that race. There was a little bit less love in the last couple of years when you cannot overtake."

Fernando Alonso, who had suffered a crash during an Indy 500 practice session at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2019, also highlighted the dangers of the race, which arise from 33 drivers circling the 2.5-mile circuit at over 220 mph.

"And there is the danger factor, he said. "In the Indy 500, there are a couple of big crashes every year. Now I am fully focused in F1 and, when I stop F1, I don’t know if I will be tempted to try again. It is not a complete no, but I would say it is less of a project."

Fernando Alonso enters his 25th F1 season this year. The Aston Martin driver is currently in Bahrain for the three-day pre-season testing ahead of the season-opening Australian GP on March 16.