It just wasn’t Fernando Alonso. He spent the rest of the race rooting for Sato, his Andretti team-mate and former F1 cohort.
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“It’s such a privilege to win here whether it was the first attempt or eighth attempt or you had a drama in the past, it doesn’t really matter”, said Sato.
In 2012, Sato battled with Dario Franchitti for the lead late in the race and while attempting to make the pass inside Turn 1 spun into the outside retaining wall. His bright, papaya orange auto weaved time and again into spots where no other man in his first oval race would dare put his nose. “I’m not American, but I felt really proud to race here”.
That included Fernando Alonso, who rocked racing when he opted to play hooky from Formula One’s Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday to tackle the 2.5 mile (4km) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval.
“(If) I knew that A.J. Foyt IV would back off that much in Turn 2, I would go for it”, Castroneves said of the lapped vehicle. “I know it’s going to happen”. “So I’m very appreciative for that”. In the closing laps, he efficiently dealt with Ganassi Racing’s Max Chilton (who led the most laps with 50 and ultimately finished fourth) and traded the lead with three-time Indianapolis victor Hélio Castroneves, one of the most experienced men in the field.
The 40-year-old won the 101st staging of the Indy 500 by holding off multiple-time champion Helio Castroneves in the final laps.
“This is going to be mega big” in Japan, said Sato. “I can not imagine how it’s going to be”. Sato, the first Japanese victor of the Indianapolis 500, proved Andretti was no fool when he stretched his organization to six cars for Sunday’s 101st running of the event. “Today, I was so happy that I made it and won in a good move”.
Sato dedicated his victory to the people of northeastern Japan still recovering from the deadly tsunami of 2011 which killed more than 18,000 people.
This year marked Sato’s first running in the IndyCar Series with his current team, Andretti Autosport. “I’m really happy for them, that we were able to give them a win with our Japanese driver here”.
The crowd would have loved to have seen the popular Castroneves win for a fourth time, tying A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears and Al Unser.
But the 35-year-old would like to return in the future, saying he still had a desire to win the famous race.
Andretti explained that different strategies had been deployed for individual drivers.
Alonso’s Indy adventure ended with laughs and smiles as he pulled out a small carton of milk and started drinking at the end of his post-race press conference, keeping up the theme of his 14 days spent in the United States since the Spanish Grand Prix. Specifically, he lamented giving up the lead to de Ferran after slowing for a lapped vehicle.
Alonso had been a front-runner for most of the first 150 laps of the race, before two cautions in quick succession shuffled him down the order.
“It was already a nice feeling”, Alonso said of leading. “I want that picture at home”.
However, he could not resist all but confirming that he would indeed be back for a second shot at Indy 500.
How could Sunday’s runner-up not be impressed after seeing Jones run cleanly side-by-side against him with 26 laps to go and come out with the best finish of his brief IndyCar career? Contact with Howard’s disabled vehicle sent him corkscrewing through the air before crashing upside down into the infield fence. Dixon has won four series titles in addition to the 2008 Indy 500. What was supposed to be a positive story for McLaren and Honda’s relationship finished on a sour note, one which Formula One boss Zak Brown seemed genuinely miffed by in the immediate aftermath of the race.
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While Alonso didn’t get a chance to fight for the win, he still took a drink of milk after the race was over. I respect them. They give me a great speed and great confidence.
