Why Alonso's first Indy failure was ultimately a success

Whatever you think of Fernando Alonso's innate ability to grab the limelight, it's indisputable that his most high-profile headline grab - announcing he would skip Formula 1's Monaco Grand Prix for an Indianapolis 500 assault in 2017 - has had a lasting impact on the motorsport landscape.

One of the most alluring aspects of motorsport history was legendary drivers crossing over into other series - think Mario Andretti bringing USAC lessons to the dominating Colin Chapman-inspired Lotuses or Jim Clark's wide-ranging success outside of Formula 1 at Indy, and in sportscars and touring cars.

But the modern era's increasing specialisation meant such switches had largely been resigned to the past - certainly few F1 drivers race outside of their main commitment, notwithstanding Nico Hulkenberg's Le Mans 24 Hours win with Porsche in 2015.

But a two-time F1 world champion missing the prestigious Monaco GP to revive talk of the Triple Crown made famous by Graham Hill? It's no exaggeration to say it shook up the motorsport arena.

More than two million people watched Alonso's first test in an Indycar live on YouTube. All those people watching one car on track, circulating around an oval, pitting, making changes, and then going back out again - try explaining that to non-motorsport fans. By the end of May, the term 'Alonso mania' was a thing. It was big.

Refreshingly, the month seemed to bring out the best in what was then one of F1's leading talents. Seemingly revitalised by being away from F1's political machinations - as well as a chronically underperforming McLaren-Honda - Alonso's better characteristics stood out.

His approach to learning a completely different way of racing was tenacious. He would spend hours in Honda's simulator, then head to the track for hours of practice, and instead of calling it a day there, he would spend more hours watching onboards of previous Indy 500s. It was total immersion.

"I have been discovering a new series, I have been learning from zero again," Alonso said of his preparations. "I feel like a rookie - a beginner in everything I did - and that wakes up all your senses as a racing driver that you always have inside yourself and that you maybe accommodate if you are in your normal series.

"You come here, you start from zero, you learn, you get up to speed as soon as possible because there is no time. I didn't start [oval racing] with the 20 miles of Cincinnati, I start with the 500 miles of Indianapolis - the biggest race in the world.

"There is no time to learn, you need to perform immediately. It is extremely challenging but extremely rewarding."

Not only is this level of attention to detail a key part of being a top-level driver, but it earned Alonso instant respect from the IndyCar paddock. Not only from his Andretti Autosport stablemates but from the wider field too, and it wasn't simply because Alonso brought more recognition to the series.

The Honda engine expiring somehow only strengthened the story of Alonso's first Indy 500

A crossover such as this can't be done without full commitment - particularly in a field as strong as modern-day IndyCar. As Alonso said at the time: "It [was] 24-hour dedication for the last month-and-a-half."

Watching him progress from endless practice to qualifying simulations and then qualifying proper was fascinating thanks to IndyCar's better approach to access compared to F1's utter secrecy. Alonso was visibly making set-up changes as he progressed. That meant when IndyCar veteran Marco Andretti said Alonso was a "shoo-in" for a top-five finish, it felt like there were merits to those words before the race had even began.

Alonso's attempt to win Indy in 2017 did provoke criticism. Lewis Hamilton was the most notable - purely because of his status - as he responded to Alonso qualifying fifth by saying "What does that say about Indy?" But that ignorance at the standard of the championship, intentional or not, was shown up by Alonso's bruising early experience in the race.

Compared to Josef Newgarden and Alexander Rossi and others expertly managing their races and utilising their experience of drafting and knowing when to pass or not, Alonso briefly looked like a fish out of water. But he knuckled down and dished out his own response. After 37 laps, the F1 driver attempting to win the second leg of the Triple Crown was out in front.

The reaction in the stands and from the TV commentary was one of those to savour, even if it was overshadowed by the eventual sour ending to Alonso's race. By every metric - strategy, fuel and tyre management, raw ability - he was indeed in contention for a top-five finish at the very least.

But in a cruel - although somewhat predictable - twist, Alonso's Honda engine blew up. While it wasn't a V6 turbo-hybrid, he'd been there before on many occasions.

Yet somehow it only strengthened the story of Alonso's first Indy 500. There was no 'GP2 engine' tantrum when he clambered out of the Andretti-run, McLaren-bannered car - instead, he enjoyed a standing ovation from the crowd.

Alonso, with his famous ability to manage a storyline, did it again perfectly post-race. The image of him lifting a bottle of milk, tongue-in-cheek, during the press conference is a perfect example.

But the storyline lost momentum after that. There was an investigation into the Honda failure, talk of an immediate return to Indy 500 was stopped when he committed to entering the 2018 Monaco GP in the expectation McLaren would be fighting more towards the front of the F1 field that season.

But the team's failure to do that then paved the way for a more tedious 'will-they-won't-they' saga regarding McLaren and Alonso's IndyCar/Indy 500 future, which led to some of Alonso's demons resurfacing.

Honda Performance Development repeatedly told Autosport - on and off the record - that it would "love" to power Alonso and McLaren, only for it to become clear later on that company's the Japanese arm was less enthusiastic. Unsurprisingly, shouting about a GP2 engine at Honda's home race hadn't gone down to well...

With his options narrowing, various link-ups with teams such as Ed Carpenter Racing and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing failed to amount to anything, although Alonso's run with Andretti on the Barber road course (above) was another telling reminder of how highly regarded he is in IndyCar.

Not getting together since then doesn't appear to have hindered the legacy of his 2017 Indy entry - despite McLaren's abysmal attempt to go it alone this year. That story was a litany of embarrassments: losing track time over the car not being painted the right Papaya orange, linking up with Carlin when that squad couldn't feasibly support a third car, and ultimately the ignominy of Alonso failing to qualify.

But despite all that, McLaren's return to Indycar racing via its tie-up with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports is not only now building on solid foundations - with the hardearned lessons from this year there as well - but it's also helping return IndyCar to international prominence at a time when the racing product is the strongest it's been since the merger.

In the UK, that can be quantified by Sky Sports F1 winning the rights to screen live IndyCar races after genuine competition with other broadcasters.

Alonso's two Le Mans victories means the Triple Crown is closer than ever and if at some point in the next decade he can pull it off at the Brickyard, he will almost certainly be claiming one of the most memorable moments of the next 10 years too.