Alonso has set his sights on winning the Indy 500 to secure motor racing’s Triple Crown, but his plans to achieve that feat this year were wrecked on Sunday night when he failed to secure one of the final three spots in the starting line-up.
His last-ditch effort of 227.353mph was pipped right at the end by Kyle Kaiser in the Juncos Racing car, whose 227.372mph was enough to secure him the final spot on the grid.
While McLaren sporting director Gil de Ferran has openly apologised to Alonso for not giving him a car that was quick enough to allow him to qualify, Brown is clear that the outfit can only blame itself for what happened.
Posting on social media, Brown wrote: “Incredibly disappointed for the fans, our team, our partners and Fernando that we will not be racing in the Indy500 this year.
“It was always going to be a hard road but no excuses – we didn’t get the job done. Credit and respect to those who did.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t put McLaren and Fernando in the race. The team put their heart and soul into it and I thank them. We know where we went wrong and we’ll fix it.”
De Ferran told media on Sunday night that Alonso’s failure to qualify was the most painful experience of his racing career, but is adamant that the team will regroup and return for another effort in 2020.
Clearly overwhelmed with disappointment, de Ferran later spoke on Twitter and said: “We took a huge challenge.
“We knew that this was going to be difficult all the way, and we were racing against some very experienced teams in IndyCar and, unfortunately, we came up a little short. Try as we might, we came up a little short and it’s very painful.
He added: “The racer in me, the fighter in me, wants to come back. I want to start tomorrow and I want to meet this challenge head on. Fernando spoke well earlier, at least we’re here fighting. Sometimes you fail but we’re here fighting,. This is a challenge that I want to meet and I want to come back.”