Fernando Alonso's preparation for the Indianapolis 500 continued as the two-time Formula One champion put in another set of laps despite the tricky weather conditions. In what was a big improvement from yesterday, Alonso managed to finish fourth in the third practice behind Ed Carpenter, Scott Dixon and JR Hildebrand.
The Spaniard was initially in seventh position, with just an hour of practice remaining as he set a time of 218.375mph before recording a lap time of 219.533mph to finish day three of practice as the fourth fastest.
Alonso completed 39 laps on day three of practice and despite the windy conditions he felt it was a productive day as these conditions would help him learn to drive the car better.
"It was tricky, definitely. The conditions today didn't help, so there was very little running for the big guys, but for me any condition is still a good lesson. So today was about that, learning how to drive with these strong winds and how to set up the car corner-by-corner," Autosport.com quoted Alonso as saying.
"Everything went according to plan. The team used those runs also to test something in the background on engine tuning, so it was a productive day."
Check out the highlights from Fernando Alonso's day three practice session:
As mentioned before, Alonso is looking to prove himself as a complete driver. He is looking to become only the second racer to win the Triple Crown, and the McLaren driver is certainly giving his 100 percent. In the hopes of getting used to the pit stop sessions at the Indy 500, Alonso also completed a series of practice pit stops during the middle of practice.
"We used the middle of the day to do some pit stop practice, not only for me but for the guys as well," Alonso said.
"We learned a couple of things on their side and also on my side, how to approach the fast lane, the slow lane, because obviously in practice it's OK but on race day when 33 cars will pit, there will be a lot of traffic here."
Alonso's participation in the Indy 500 was always going to attract a lot of attention, given the huge fan following he gained from his early days in Formula One. While the Spaniard is certainly having a lot of fun and loves the support from fans, he said jokingly: "It seems that everywhere I go they follow me."
"I think some of the other drivers are taking advantage of that. They wait until I go, then they go without trouble. That's the way it is, I'm new here so they all need the autograph for the first time. I hope tomorrow they don't need it for the second time."
