Every time Formula 1 returns to Monaco, one storyline quietly resurfaces alongside the glamour and the barriers: Fernando Alonso and his pursuit of motorsport's Triple Crown. The unofficial achievement, winning the Monaco Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500 and the Le Mans 24 Hours, has been completed by only one driver in history, and the Spaniard remains the most credible active contender to become the second.
Alonso already has two of the three legs to his name, and neither was a fluke. He won the Monaco Grand Prix in both 2006 and 2007 during his championship-winning pomp, mastering the very circuit Formula 1 returns to this weekend. More than a decade later he conquered sportscar racing's blue-riband event, taking back-to-back victories in the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2018 and 2019. Two of the three crowns, secured in two entirely different disciplines, separated by a dozen years.
That leaves only the Indianapolis 500, and it is the leg that has proven most stubborn. Alonso's attempts at the Brickyard have ranged from heartbreak to frustration: a competitive run ended by engine failure on his first try, a chastening failure to qualify on another visit, and a quiet result that never threatened the front. The 500 has a way of humbling even the greatest drivers, and it has so far denied Alonso the piece of history he covets most.
The symbolism of the Monaco weekend is hard to ignore. For decades the principality and Indianapolis have shared a slice of the late-May calendar, the two races standing as monuments to opposite ends of the sport, precision and bravery on one side, raw speed and stamina on the other. To win both, and Le Mans besides, is to prove mastery across the entire spectrum of four-wheeled competition. Only Graham Hill has ever done it.
Within the paddock, Alonso is still widely regarded as the driver best equipped to join that exclusive club, a racer whose versatility and appetite for a challenge mark him out even in the closing stretch of a remarkable career. His current Formula 1 commitments and a midfield package keep his focus on the present, but the Indianapolis ambition has never entirely gone away.
Whether the opportunity returns is uncertain; the window for a driver of Alonso's vintage narrows with every season. But as the cars thread through the barriers of Monte Carlo once more, the reminder is unavoidable. Fernando Alonso stands two-thirds of the way to one of the rarest achievements in all of sport, and the final piece is still out there, waiting at Indianapolis.
Source: newsformula.one