McLaren Racing's Fernando Alonso recently visited the McLaren Technology Centre to get his seat fitting completed ahead of his challenge to complete motorsports unofficial 'Triple Crown', with a victory at the Indianapolis 500 all that stands in his way.
It was announced in November that Alonso would participate in the event for a second time – his first attempt in 2017 ended with engine failure on lap 179 after his Honda engine expired while racing inside the top 10.
Alonso will enter the prestigious event in 2019 with McLaren Racing, which will be powered by Chevrolet as opposed to Honda with the Andretti Autosport and F1 partnership no longer in place.
The Spaniard's number one mechanic, Liam Dance, explained how Alonso's lengthy racing experience has helped him get fully comfortable inside his car and the intricate details involved with getting it just right.
“In Formula 1 the seat is built so that it can be extracted from the car with the driver in it after an accident, and it’s basically a hard carbon-fibre shell,” said Dance.
“The cockpit of an IndyCar is a lot bigger, and it’s got more padding, so the seat itself is actually foam rather than carbon.
"Since the car is set up for going around an oval – high speeds, and all left-hand turns – the padding on the right-hand side is very important to get right, particularly around the head.”
“With Fernando, he knows exactly what he wants. He’ll tell you to the millimetre how far the steering and pedals need to be adjusted.
“Less experienced drivers might not be that sure, and you can do a seat fitting with them and they’ll say, ‘I’m happy with that.’ Then once they get out on track they might find out it isn’t really working for them – you might end up having to re-do the seat fit at the circuit between sessions.
“That can cost you important track time if you’re having to move things around. So it’s crucial to get the seat fit right first time.”
To see more of the seat fitting, click here.
The 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 takes place on May 26.
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