Fernando Alonso is clearly enjoying his time away from Formula One.
With McLaren-Honda essentially worse off than it was at the end of 2016, Alonso has been constantly frustrated during 2017. But since announcing he would race in the Indianapolis 500, the Spaniard seemingly hasn’t stopped smiling, and his jubilation now has boiled over onto social media.
Alonso posted a picture ahead the first day of Indy 500 testing expressing his excitement. Half of the post showed the No. 29 Honda he’ll pilot at Indy, and the other half featured the last car he drove at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which also happened to be a McLaren.
McLaren tweeted a picture that revealed the two-time F1 world champion even was enjoying being a spectator while he had downtime outside the car.
Fernando keeping cool in the pitlane in his new #McLarenHondaAndretti team cap. #Indy500 pic.twitter.com/WU4rKg6y4n
— McLaren Indy (@McLarenIndy) May 15, 2017
Alonso’s actually having so much fun during his time in the United States, he’s releasing a short montage every night that recaps what happened that day.
https://twitter.com/alo_oficial/status/864231292610764809
Despite spending a lot of time on a plane before the test began Monday, Alonso apparently still had enough energy to grab dinner with F1 and IndyCar great Mario Andretti.
Dinner in Indianapolis tonight with Fernando Alonso @alo_oficial @McLarenInd pic.twitter.com/psbMZ2elVl
— Mario Andretti (@MarioAndretti) May 16, 2017
Once Alonso arrived back at IMS on Tuesday morning, he took a stroll around the paddock and tried out something with even less horsepower than his MCL32.
Because Fernando on skateboard at the @IMS is possibly the coolest thing we've ever seen. 😎 #AlonsoSkatesIndy pic.twitter.com/lVoU6zpsid
— McLaren Indy (@McLarenIndy) May 16, 2017
Although Alonso clearly is making the most of the unique opportunity afforded to him by McLaren and Andretti Autosport, he isn’t in the U.S. on vacation. That was evident as he finished the rookies and refreshers test Monday morning atop the time sheets, recording a fastest lap of 40.6074 seconds at 221.634 mph, Motorsport.com reports.
