The 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 has got underway with Scott Dixon setting the pace. However, it was Fernando Alonso, who was the talk of the town during the opening practice session. The bad news was that it was for all the wrong reasons, where he was only 16th fastest.

But the worst was yet to come, and it came with a bang, literally. With less-than five and a half hours left into the session, Fernando Alonso lost control of his car.

The Spaniard was exiting Turn 3, when he went a little too wide and the barrier was very unforgiving. The car spun towards the inside and hit the barrier on the other side as well. The helpless car then got slightly airborne, before sliding across the track again and hitting the barrier one final time.

After being extricated from the wreck, Fernando Alonso was promptly sent to the medical centre, and later cleared.

Speaking after the crash, the former McLaren driver said, “We will lose a little bit of running time again. I’m sorry for the team, but we will learn and hopefully we will come back stronger tomorrow.”

“We worked quite a lot on the car and definitely now it’s quite damaged, so I feel sorry for the team and for my mistake, hopefully tomorrow we’re back on track and back stronger.”