Did overboost issue cost Alonso shot at Indy 500 pole?

Fernando Alonso believes he could have been in contention for a spectacular pole position on his Indianapolis 500 debut after suffering a speed sapping overboost issue on his 'Fast 9' run.

The two-time F1 world champion had already made headlines by making it into nine-car the pole position shootout session with seventh in Q1 but skipped a row ahead after his Q2 runs with a fine 231.300mph effort.

Less than 1mph shy of pole man Scott Dixon in the Chip Ganassi car as Honda-powered machines dominated with four cars inside the top five, Alonso believes he could have had a shot at pole position had the occurrence of an 'overboost' issue - which applied the brakes on the exit of turn four on his second lap - not cost him precious speed and momentum.

"Unfortunately on lap two we had an overboost problem out of turn four, so it was hitting the brakes, so I lost 1mph so I think we could have been fighting for pole today without that problem.

"Once you secure the top nine it doesn't make a huge difference to the race or total result but the car felt great. Without this boost problem we would have been much quicker."

Regardless, the result represents a fine reward for the Andretti team after Alonso required an engine change ahead of Q2, with the Spaniard revealing it crew members of all six entries to get him back on course.

"I did enjoy it the session - at one point this morning I didn't know if we were able to go out because we changed the engine. I am happy we are here and competitive.

"[The team were] Amazing! The whole team were working on my car, a crew from all six cars were working on my car to make it happen so I put the best lap together for them."

Alonso will start in the presence of two of his Andretti team-mates when the Indianapolis 500 gets underway next week, with last year's winner Alex Rossi securing third on the grid and Takuma Sato in fourth.