McLaren Honda driver Fernando Alonso will skip this year’s Monaco Grand Prix and instead contest the Indianapolis 500 which will be held over the same weekend, the team informed on Wednesday.
The shock move follows weeks of deliberation between Honda, McLaren and Alonso. The 35-year-old will race for the Honda-affiliated Andretti Autosport IndyCar team, which incidentally is headed by former McLaren F1 driver Michael Andretti.
Reports suggest that the 35-year-old’s absence from the Monte Carlo race on May 28, could see Jenson Button, who is part of McLaren in an ambassadorial role, return as a driver.
“I’m immensely excited that I’ll be racing in this year’s Indy 500, with McLaren, Honda and Andretti Autosport,” said Alonso. “The Indy 500 is one of the most famous races on the global motorsport calendar, rivalled only by the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Monaco Grand Prix, and it’s of course a regret of mine that I won’t be able to race at Monaco this year.
“But Monaco will be the only 2017 Grand Prix I’ll be missing, and I’ll be back in the cockpit of the McLaren-Honda MCL32 for the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal in early June.”
The move is being seen as a way to keep the Spaniard happy and allow Mclaren time to improve form and hope he extends his contract which expires at the end of the season.
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