This week’s edition of TrackTalk was supposed to recap the Long Beach Grand Prix. I should be talking about James Hinchliffe’s win, Sebastien Bourdais’ second podium in as many races, or the abysmal day Will Power and the entire Andretti Autosport Team had. I was going to write about that until IndyCar dropped the biggest bombshell since Nigel Mansell quite Formula 1 (as champion) to join IndyCar. If you’re reading this article then you probably already know- current McLaren Formula 1 driver and two-time champion, Fernando Alonso, is going to SKIP the Monaco Grand Prix and run the Indy 500 for Andretti Autosport.

The first race is in the bag, and an official test at Barber Motorsports Park just wrapped. Are the St. Petersburg results a one-off? Or is that only the beginning of the status quo for the 2017 IndyCar season? We look back at both in this week’s TrackTalk.