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Fernando Alonso gets quickly up to speed at the Brickyard

INDIANAPOLIS - Fernando Alonso was quickly up to speed at the famed Brickyard on Wednesday, blazing through his IndyCar rookie orientation to close in on earning a spot on the Indianapolis 500 starting grid. Alonso, who has competed in 276 Formula One races and is a double world champion, is an IndyCar debutant and arrived at in Indianapolis needing to pass a rookie test which he did with flying colours by recording a top speed of 222.548 mph (358.156 kph). It was an impressive debut by the 35-year-old Spaniard considering that Canada's James Hinchcliffe claimed pole position for last year's race with a four-lap average speed of 230.760 mph. "It felt new to me, it felt a little bit strange driving anti-clockwise at those speeds," Alonso told reporters. "What I felt in the car was more-or-less what I expected. What is different now is my excitement of the race itself." Alonso set the motor racing world buzzing when he announced last month that he had been granted clearance by his McLaren F1 team to skip the Monaco Grand Prix and race in the Indy 500 on May 28 in pursuit of the sport's famed Triple Crown - a Formula One title and Indy 500 and Le Mans wins. McLaren will enter the 101st edition of the Indy with a Honda-engined Indy car run by Andretti Autosport, owned by former McLaren driver Michael Andretti, in the old papaya orange livery of the 1970s. Alonso looked right at home at the Brickyard as he slipped into the number 29 car and was quickly turning laps of more than 200 mph around the 2.5 mile oval. The rookie orientation program was the first on-track step for Alonso towards securing a place in the 33 car field. All first-year competitors in the Indianapolis 500 must complete a gradual introduction to the speeds and unique nature of the sprawling track. During the private test Alonso ran 110 laps but it will be a much different situation on May 28 when he will have to contend with a 33-car field. "Today was just running alone learning the circuit and all the things that are involved with this technique," said Alonso, who had a run-in with two birds near the end of his session. "I am not driving the car, the car is driving myself around at the moment." The Spaniard, who is having a difficult F1 season with uncompetitive McLaren, has set his sights on joining Briton Graham Hill as the only drivers to achieve the Triple Crown.

2016 Italian Grand Prix race recap

The Italian Grand Prix at Monza is called the Temple of Power. Furthermore, the winning driver in Italy started on pole in 13 of the last 16 years, and only one driver in that time has won the Italian GP from behind the front row of the grid: Rubens Barrichello in 2002 and 2009. By this point in the current Formula 1 season (era?) we know what it means when a track emphasizes both power and pole position: Mercedes-AMG Petronas. The Silver Arrows locked out the front row with Lewis Hamilton on pole. A poor start prevented the Briton from capitalizing on the advantage, so teammate Nico Rosberg and four other drivers swept by him before the end of the second turn. Mercedes would later say a clutch issue caused Hamilton's botched start, but that didn't help the man who'd just fallen to sixth place. Rosberg got about two laps of television coverage on his way to an unbothered victory ahead of Hamilton. Ferrari made Hamilton's second-place finish easier by sticking to a two-stop strategy; both Mercedes drivers pitted once. We aren't sure why Ferrari didn't at least attempt a one-stopper once Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen had been gifted second and third on track. A pit stop took about 23 seconds from entry to exit and Vettel finished third, six seconds behind Hamilton. Raikkonen finished fourth, another seven seconds behind Vettel. Perhaps the Scuderia's tire usage wouldn't allow longer stints, but we'll never know. Daniel Ricciardo wielded his Red Bull like a scalpel to make an impeccable pass on Valtteri Bottas in the Williams and take fifth place. Ricciardo, trailing another Italian province behind, somehow closed the gap on Bottas in just the braking zone of Turn 1, pulling alongside near the apex without locking a wheel on entry nor running wide on exit. Bottas claimed sixth ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez in the Force India, Felipe Massa in the second Williams, and Nico Hulkenberg in the second Force India sealing the top ten. Monza did spring a few on-track surprises. Esteban Gutierrez drove Haas F1 into Q3 for the first time this season, the Mexican setting the sixth-best time in Q2. Manor Racing planned for Monza all season, Pascal Wehrlein repaying the effort by qualifying 13th. Fernando Alonso pitted his McLaren on Lap 50 of the 53-lap race for a set of super soft Pirellis, then set the fastest lap. It's Honda's first fastest lap since 1992. The biggest moments happened off the track.

2015 McLaren 650S Spider [w/video]

It seems like only yesterday that we enjoyed a mad dash in McLaren's wild P1 hybrid wallet-breaker. Now here we are, already back with the Brits, this time in on the great roads of southern Spain and at Ascari Race Resort as McLaren launches what has already become its most important seller, the 650S. Available as both a $265,500 coupe and as a $280,225 roadster, we will focus hard here on the Spider since it's the greater conversation piece and will account for nearly ninety percent of North American deliveries. The car's very first US customers are taking delivery as you read this. Though the 650S essentially takes what was offered in the original MP4-12C, pumps it all up and refines it nicely, this new member of the McLaren clan looks more like a P1, albeit one costing over three-quarters of a million dollars less than the real deal. Truth be told, 12C production ceased in January to allow 650S production to ramp up, and the new car will therefore serve as McLaren's entry-level model until its rumored Porsche 911- and Aston Martin V8 Vantage-rival comes along. There were a handful of key things we hoped for in this new 650S: more power and torque than the 12C, a more finely tuned ride and handling balance no matter the H (handling) and P (powertrain) setting selected, more character from the bi-turbo V8's exhaust and a flashier, less banal design. We're pleased to report that all of these issues have been addressed. The 650S' chassis and powertrain are nearly identical to the 12C, but variations do exist. The 650S' naked chassis and powertrain are nearly identical to those of the 12C at first glance, but variations do exist. The entire top portion of the dry-sump M838T 3.8-liter V8, built up by engine kings Ricardo in the UK, has been reengineered for more urgency and less friction between moving parts. These developments lead to microscopically improved fuel efficiency and lower CO2 numbers. Similarly, the seven-speed Seamless Shift Gearbox (SSG) from Graziano is the same unit, but its software has been reprogrammed for better shift behavior both in-town and at full chat come track days. Whereas on the 12C, Pirelli PZeros have been standard-issue tires with Corsa versions as an option, the 650S jumps straight to the latter's higher-performance asymmetric treads. As to braking, there is a similar change, with the optional Akebono carbon-ceramic brakes of the 12C coming standard on the 650S.