di Resta under pressure to deliver - MotorSportsTalk

The decision by Force India to partner Paul di Resta with Adrian Sutil once again came as a surprise following the latter’s fall from grace at the end of 2011. A great deal has changed since Sutil first left, with di Resta heading into the new season as the ‘number one’ driver, but if he is outpaced by his teammate this year, the Scot could find his Formula One career under scrutiny.

di Resta’s time in F1 has been described as “solid” or “decent”, but these words lack the same panache that the likes of Vettel, Hamilton and Alonso were called when they entered the sport. Two seasons have yielded 73 points and a best finish of fourth in the 2012 Singapore Grand Prix. Occasionally, he has managed to force his way into the top ten shootout, but there has rarely been a spectacular showing from the Scot. In Belgium last year, he was as high as third before dropping back through the field to finish tenth. Considering his teammate had been out of F1 for a whole season, di Resta struggled to match Nico Hulkenberg, with their performances in the Brazilian GP summing up their seasons: Hulkenberg led for most of the race; di Resta struggled before crashing out with a few laps to go.

Enter Adrian Sutil. The German driver has reminded journalists how he scored more points than di Resta when they were last together, and if he could repeat this performance in 2013, it could spell trouble for the former DTM champion. To have spent three seasons in the sport without beating your teammate is not “future champion” material. When Lewis Hamilton vacated his McLaren seat, many saw di Resta as the ideal replacement. The factor that swung in Perez’s favor was his record for stand-out results (three podiums last season, including the nearly win in Malaysia).

Although this hypothesis may be a rather negative one for di Resta to contemplate, it will hopefully be the incentive that will lead him to some strong results in 2013. One must also remember how Jenson Button became a leading driver: eight years of midfield mediocrity before that championship win. As F1 becomes increasingly cut-throat though, di Resta may not have time to wait around, and will instead have to prove his worth in 2013.

INDIANAPOLIS — The first Indy 500 victory for Josef Newgarden also was the richest in race history from a record 2023 purse of just more than $17 million.

The two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, who continued his celebration Monday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway earned $3.666 million for winning the 107th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

The purse and winner’s share both are the largest in the history of the Indianapolis 500.

It’s the second consecutive year that the Indy 500 purse set a record after the 2022 Indy 500 became the first to crack the $16 million mark (nearly doubling the 2021 purse that offered a purse of $8,854,565 after a crowd limited to 135,000 because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

The average payout for IndyCar drivers was $500,600 (exceeding last year’s average of $485,000).

Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske, whose team also fields Newgarden’s No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet, had made raising purses a priority since buying the track in 2020. But Penske but was unable to post big money purses until the race returned to full capacity grandstands last year.

The largest Indy 500 purse before this year was $14.4 million for the 2008 Indy 500 won by Scott Dixon (whose share was $2,988,065). Ericsson’s haul made him the second Indy 500 winner to top $3 million (2009 winner Helio Castroneves won $3,048,005.

Runner-up Marcus Ericsson won $1.043 million after falling short by 0.0974 seconds in the fourth-closest finish in Indy 500 history.

The 107th Indy 500 drew a crowd of at least 330,000 that was the largest since the sellout for the 100th running in 2016, and the second-largest in more than two decades, according to track officials.

“This is the greatest race in the world, and it was an especially monumental Month of May featuring packed grandstands and intense on-track action,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said in a release. “Now, we have the best end card possible for the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500: a record-breaking purse for the history books.”

Benjamin Pedersen was named the Indy 500 rookie of the year, earning a $50,000 bonus.

The race’s purse is determined through contingency and special awards from IMS and IndyCar. The awards were presented Monday night in the annual Indy 500 Victory Celebration at the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis.

The payouts for the 107th Indy 500:

1. Josef Newgarden, $3,666,000
2. Marcus Ericsson, $1,043,000
3. Santino Ferrucci, $481,800
4. Alex Palou, $801,500
5. Alexander Rossi, $574,000
6. Scott Dixon, $582,000
7. Takuma Sato, $217,300
8. Conor Daly, $512,000
9. Colton Herta, $506,500
10. Rinus VeeKay, $556,500
11. Ryan Hunter‐Reay, $145,500
12. Callum Ilott, $495,500
13. Devlin DeFrancesco, $482,000
14. Scott McLaughlin, $485,000
15. Helio Castroneves, $481,500
16. Tony Kanaan, $105,000
17. Marco Andretti, $102,000
18. Jack Harvey, $472,000
19. Christian Lundgaard, $467,500
20. Ed Carpenter, $102,000
21. Benjamin Pedersen (R), $215,300
22. Graham Rahal, $565,500*
23. Will Power, $488,000
24. Pato O’Ward, $516,500
25. Simon Pagenaud, $465,500
26. Agustín Canapino (R), $156,300
27. Felix Rosenqvist, $278,300
28. Kyle Kirkwood, $465,500
29. David Malukas, $462,000
30. Romain Grosjean, $462,000
31. Sting Ray Robb (R), $463,000
32. RC Enerson (R), $103,000
33. Katherine Legge, $102,000

*–Broken down between two teams, $460,000 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, $105,500 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports