It has emerged that Fernando Alonso was very pleasantly shocked by the reaction he received during his visit to the USA last weekend to attend the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama held at Barber Motorsports Park.
After the 2005 and 2006 F1 World Champion announced his decision to skip the Monaco Grand Prix and take part in the Indy 500 instead, he never realised just how much an impact it would have on both IndyCar and his profile in the USA.
"No, until I test the car [next week on Wednesday] I don't know exactly how tough the challenge will be on the track with those cars," Alonso said.
"But what is for sure is the impression of how big this Indy 500 [drive announcement] has increased in my opinion after these days. How the people get super excited about the race there, how important the race is there for everyone and these last three or four days, I walk in the airport in Indianapolis or in Chicago and everyone's stopping me, shaking hands, wishing me good luck so it was like being in Spain for a moment!
"So definitely a big change in America for this race, I saw also the audience on television was 50 percent more on that race, so definitely a bigger impact than what I thought at the beginning, but in terms of the challenge of the race itself, I don't know.
"I remain very open of how difficult it will be to drive those cars and to drive at those speeds in traffic etcetera, and also the random factor of the yellow flag and the safety cars so it's extremely difficult task but I'm ready to learn as much as I can and be hopefully competitive."
The McLaren driver was also extremely surprised by the recognition he experienced after the race when he was waiting for a delayed flight back to Russia for this weekend’s grand prix in Sochi.
"The biggest surprise of this weekend or the last five days was the impact of this news and how many people recognised me in those moments and in the airport.
"I'm used to walking around in America quite relaxed and I used to spend holidays in the U.S. because no one recognised you and you want some privacy and it was not like that in the airport at least."
