They say there are two types of drivers at Indianapolis, those who have hit the wall and those who will hit the wall. Fernando Alonso now belongs to the former group.
The McLaren driver, who was deprived of running on Tuesday because of an electrical issue, was hoping to make up some lost ground in practice today.
Unfortunately, the Spaniard lost grip on the entry to Turn 3 while he was running directly behind Rahal Letterman Lanigan's Graham Rahal.
The papaya McLaren hit the outside SAFER barrier and then took off and hit the inside wall before crossing across once again for a third impact.
Alonso was thus the first driver to crash this week at Indy, but fortunately the 37-year-old emerged unscathed form his heavily damaged car.
"Mistake from my side underestimating the grip in T3 today," Alonso said in apost on Instagram.
"I’m sorry for the team and the guys that have to work a lot now. 💙 Lesson learned. 🙏 . We will be back stronger later today or tomorrow."
Here’s the moment @alo_oficial hit the wall during #Indy500 practice 😮
Fernando Alonso was checked, cleared and released from the @IMS infield medical center.#INDYCAR // #ThisIsMay pic.twitter.com/BPJX1c3ckk
— NTT IndyCar Series (@IndyCar) May 15, 2019