Fernando Alonso insists that his surprise deal to race at next month's Indy 500 would have never happened under the McLaren reign of Ron Dennis.
Alonso's deal was initiated and brokered by McLaren's Zak Brown, a man undoubtedly more open minded than his predecessor at Woking.
Asked during Friday's media session if his former boss would have green lighted the idea, the Spanish driver had his doubts.
"I guess not," Alonso said. "Zak is a man that has a bigger vision than other team principals or bosses that I had.
"He sees motorsport differently, he sees McLaren bigger and no longer concentrated [exclusively] on F1. McLaren won Le Mans [in 1995].
"He is a true racer, so it is great that McLaren had Zak come on board last year."
Alonso also confessed that he would not be heading to Indy if he was currently driving a competitive car in F1.
"If the car was competitive this year, and we had 43 points together with the other guys, you cannot afford to lose a 25 points possibility missing one race."
"Things would be different if we were competitive."
On the subject of Le Mans, asked when he thinks he would get a chance to race in the legendary 24-hour event, Alonso offered a tongue-in-cheek-response.
"I don't know, it's between Canada and Baku isn't it..?"
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