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How did McLaren get Indy so wrong?

Should Fernando Alonso shoulder some of the blame for McLaren's Indianapolis 500 embarrassment? How will spec brakes change F1? Our technical expert answers those questions and more, as well as sharing his memories of racing at Zandvoort



Fernando Alonso failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. How is this possible? The McLaren entry is a new team, but surely it can't be that difficult to set the car up to be quick enough to be in the top 30 at what is a simple track?
Karl Wagner, via email

The three drivers who didn't qualify will all tell you they were flat out for their four-lap runs, so in reality couldn't do any more with the package that they had. Indy is all about very small margins, and these come from the car.

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