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Alonso consults Andretti at first day of Indy 500 practice

Fernando Alonso's first official day of practice on Monday for this year's Indianapolis 500, where he will chase the second leg of racing's 'Triple Crown,' included a chat with famed driver Mario Andretti. Alonso completed the rookie orientation session in his orange McLaren Honda Andretti car as the fastest rookie with a top average speed of 221.634 mph. Alonso's fastest lap of the day in the No. 29 McLaren-Honda-Andretti was 223.025 mph, ranking him 19th among 32 drivers who practiced Monday. That was a half-second off Andretti teammate Marco Andretti, whose fastest lap was 226.338 mph. Alonso then said he soaked up every bit of advice he received from the 77-year-old. "Yeah, well, he went to the pit lane just to say hello, but he was -- he knew that we were testing at that point, so it was just a formal hello," the 35-year-old Spaniard told reporters. "But later in the garage, lunchtime, we were talking for more than one hour and a half, so we went through many, many things, from Formula One to talk about the tires here, how they perform, to talk about the tires in Formula One." Alonso, who only settled into the cockpit of an IndyCar for the first time less than two weeks ago, will be eyeing a victory on May 28 that would put him a step closer to emulating Graham Hill in winning motor racing's Triple Crown. The Triple Crown is completed with wins in the world's pre-eminent races: F1's Monaco Grand Prix, IndyCar's Indianapolis 500 and the Le Mans endurance race. Alonso, a twice F1 world champion, already has two Monaco Grand Prix wins, while Andretti stands alone as the only driver to win a F1 world championship, an Indy 500 and Daytona 500. While Andretti never won the Triple Crown, Alonso hung on the revered racer's every word. "He's an amazing person and a true legend in motorsports, so every comment, every word that he says is obviously very, very important for all of us, and inside the team we are extremely proud and happy to work with him," said Alonso. By Frank PingueRelated Video: Motorsports McLaren Racing Vehicles F1 IndyCar indy

Fernando Alonso just misses qualifying for Indy 500 on first day

Former Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso will need a clutch run on Sunday to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 on May 26 after he failed to seal a guaranteed spot on Saturday. The Spaniard tried fives times to put his McLaren Racing Chevrolet in the top 30, but wound up one spot short. He can make the 33-car field only through a six-car shootout on Sunday that will determine the race's final three drivers. "We have another chance to be in the race," Alonso, who is seeking to make his second Indy 500 field, told IndyCar TV. The Spaniard twice got inside the top 30 but both times was bumped outside the mark, with JR Hildebrand and Graham Rahal the final two drivers to seal qualifying spots. Britain's Pippa Mann will be the only woman in the race, qualifying 30th in 227.244 mph. Race positions 10-30 were determined during the day-long qualifying with Saturday's nine fastest drivers set to return on Sunday to decide pole. Spencer Pigot, driving the Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, led qualifying with a four-lap average of 230.083 mph. He was followed by 2018 winner Will Power of Australia (230.081) and Simon Pagenaud of France (229.854). The troubles for Alonso, whose top four-lap average was 227.224 mph, were exacerbated by a punctured tire in his first qualifying run. "That didn't help," Alonso told reporters. "But, obviously, our performance has been quite bad all week. Quite poor." The Spaniard crashed his Chevrolet in practice on Wednesday and missed nearly two full days of practice while a backup car was prepared. He returned on Friday. Alonso said he was worried the McLaren team was "not ready for the challenge." "We've been slow. You see Juncos Racing crashing yesterday and being ready at 6 o'clock. That's impressive," he said. "For us, we've been a little bit slow on everything." Alonso is bidding to join Graham Hill as the only drivers to achieve the 'Triple Crown of Motorsport' with an Indy 500 victory. He previously won the Monaco Grand Prix and Le Mans 24 Hours race. He also won two Formula One drivers' titles. (Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)Related Video: Motorsports Chevrolet McLaren IndyCar

Race Recap: 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix is Magyar for 'What a race!'

Every driver on the Formula 1 grid dreams of taking home the silverware, but only one driver each year can do it. Barring disaster in 2015 it looks like it's going to be Lewis Hamilton. The Brit has been so dominating at the front of the grid on Saturday, we can't see how he'll miss out on winning the second annual FIA Pole Position Trophy. That's the accolade introduced last season in another manufactured attempt to give drivers something to work for on Saturday, since the FIA felt leading into the first corner didn't have the pull it used to. Hamilton took his ninth pole of the season in Hungary for Mercedes-AMG Petronas with a crushing lap that put him almost six tenths ahead of his teammate Nico Rosberg in second. All Hamilton needs is one more spot at the top of the grid this season, and he's the Pole Position trophy winner. Thrilling stuff. Behind Rosberg the gaps stayed smaller, Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari a little more than a tenth behind Rosberg, Daniel Ricciardo in the Infiniti Red Bull Racing less than four one-hundredths behind Vettel. We feel almost as vexed watching Kimi Raikkonen as he feels driving – he's finally got a good Ferrari, now he can't get a good weekend. The front wing broke on his car in Free Practice 1, then a water leak in Free Practice 3 robbed him of setup time on the soft tire. He lines up in fifth about two tenths behind Ricciardo. The slow, tight Hungaroring didn't agree with the Williams chassis, Valtteri Bottas the first of the Grove team drivers in sixth, his teammate Felipe Massa two places back. Between them is Daniil Kvyat in the second Red Bull in seventh. Teenager Max Verstappen put in a good showing in the Toro Rosso to grab ninth, while Romain Grosjean in a wriggling, squishy, sliding Lotus classified his appearance in Q3 at all as "a miracle." As for the race that followed, we don't expect to see another like it for a long time – it was the real thrilling stuff, one shock after another. The drama began after the first parade lap, when Felipe Massa lined up out of position and the start was aborted. The drivers did another parade lap, then lined up with everyone in place. Mercedes got swamped as soon as the lights went out. Vettel ran around both of them and led the race into the first turn, Raikkonen had come from fifth to third by Turn 1, then got the inside line on Rosberg through Turn 2 to take second place.