F1Weekly podcast #791
THE HOST IS BEGINNING TO CRACK UNDER THE 2019 F1 STRAIN AND NASIR CONTINUES TO HAVE NOTHING BUT PRAISE FOR LCH AND THE AMG MERCEDES.
WE HAVE A FRESH NEW EPISODE OF “PEGLER’S PERSPECTIVE” SOME THOUGHTS ON THE MCLAREN INDIANAPOLIS MELTDOWN!
McLaren miss is one of the biggest failures in Indy 500 history. Roger Penske missed the show with Al Unser Jr. and Emerson Fittipaldi in 1995, a year after dominating the race. Reigning CART champion Bobby Rahal missed it in 1993, and two-time Indy winner Rodger Ward never got up to speed to make the 1965 field.
“Rodger Ward @ Indianapolis, 1965, the 2X Indy 500 winner failed to qualify for the 1965 Indy 500, Ward’s worst finish in the Indy 500 ..
Gil de Ferran, the competition director for McLaren and a former Indy 500 winner, was gutted and apologized about a dozen times for the team’s failure. He also turned to Alonso and directly apologized to the driver during a news conference some two hours after they had been eliminated from the field.
“We didn’t give you a car that was fast enough. You drove like the champion you are. We couldn’t have asked anything more from you. I am sorry, man. You are an amazing driver,” de Ferran said. “We didn’t underestimate the challenge. We knew this was going to be a tremendously hard challenge. I’ve seen some incredible people not make the race so we certainly were very aware of how difficult this was going to be.”
Kaiser bumped Alonso by .02 mph in the “Last Row Shootout” to set the 33-driver field.
Play Podcast: 06-04-19f1weekly791.mp3