Vettel: No shock in Mercedes' Suzuka resurgence - MotorSportsTalk

Sebastian Vettel was far from surprised by Mercedes’ return to the front of the field in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix on Saturday, saying its strength was “expected”.

Vettel dominated proceedings in Singapore last weekend by claiming pole position and a lights-to-flag race win as Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton struggled for pace all weekend.

Heading to Suzuka this weekend, Mercedes believed that its issues were purely symptomatic of the Marina Bay Street Circuit, although technical boss Paddy Lowe still remained very wary of the threat posed by Ferrari.

In qualifying on Saturday, Rosberg and Hamilton resumed normal service by locking out the front row of the grid for Mercedes, marking its 13th pole position of the year.

Speaking to NBCSN after the session, Vettel said that he wasn’t at all surprised by Mercedes bouncing back, and that Ferrari had done all it could to qualify fourth and sixth at Suzuka.

“I think it was a surprise to see Mercedes struggling so much in Singapore – for the 132nd time it has been said this weekend…” Vettel wryly said.

“But yeah, obviously they are very strong here as expected. No surprises.

“Obviously it was a tricky session for myself, didn’t really get going in the beginning, and in the end I think we can be reasonably happy. Third was the maximum, we missed that by one position.

“Tomorrow I think it will be a tight race between ourselves, Red Bull, Williams, so we need to be alert.”

The drivers entered Saturday’s qualifying session with just one hour of dry running under their belts after Friday’s practice runs were both washed out by rain, but Vettel does not think this will cause too many issues for the race on Sunday.

“Yeah we didn’t get much running, we got a bit this morning,” Vettel said. “I think we should be fine in the race. We’ve trimmed the car also towards the race, let’s see. It’s difficult to impossible to predict at this stage.”

The Japanese Grand Prix is live on NBCSN and Live Extra from 12:30am ET on Sunday.

Follow @LukeSmithF1

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

Vettel: No shock in Mercedes’ Suzuka resurgence

Winner Josef Newgarden earns $3.666 million from a record Indy 500 purse of $17 million