Fernando Alonso has failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 after a humiliating return to the USA’s biggest race for the McLaren team.
The two-time Formula 1 world champion was fourth fastest of six drivers vying for the final three places on the grid on what is known as ‘Bump Day’.
Alonso’s 227.353mph four-lap average was pipped by American Kyle Kaiser by just 0.019mph with the last run.
It is a bitter blow for Alonso, who left F1 to focus on winning Indy.
“A difficult week, no doubts,” Alonso said on social media. “We tried our best, even today with a completely different set up and approach, four laps flat on the throttle but we were not fast enough.
“It’s never easy to drive around here at 227mph+, and want more speed… We tried our best and we’ve been brave at times, but there were people doing better job than us.
“Success or disappointments only come if you accept big challenges. We accepted. Thanks to the massive support always here at the speedway and everyone at home.”
McLaren said they were “hugely disappointed” not to qualify.
“It’s been a tough week for the team. We’re sorry that our fans didn’t get the chance to cheer us on at the Brickyard,” said the team.
The 37-year-old is making his second appearance at the historic 2.5-mile super speedway.
In 2017, he qualified fifth and led for 27 laps of the race before retiring with an engine failure in the closing laps, while driving a McLaren-branded car for the leading Andretti team.
For his second attempt, McLaren chose to set up their own team from scratch and there will be questions about a number of the decisions that were made along the way.
The project has struggled from the very beginning and a series of problems through practice last week left Alonso badly under-prepared for the the weekend’s qualifying.
Alonso was 31st fastest on Saturday, which meant he just missed out on a guaranteed place on the grid afforded to the fastest 30 drivers.
Overnight, McLaren sought help from the Andretti and Penske teams – two of the three biggest in Indycar – as they sought to improve the difficult handling of their car.
It meant Alonso went into his single four-lap shot blind, and it was not to be.
