Hamilton braves the weather to top final US GP practice

By Oct 24, 2015, 12:00 PM EDT
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Lewis Hamilton managed to brave treacherous track conditions at the Circuit of The Americas on Saturday morning to top the timesheets in final practice for the United States Grand Prix.

Heavy rain onset by Hurricane Patricia and local flood warnings cast doubt on the viability of FP3 going ahead as planned, with COTA taking the decision to shut the gates to fans until midday on safety grounds.

The FIA decided to go ahead with the session as planned, beginning at 10am CT. Drivers were instructed to only use the full wet tire until told otherwise to aid water clearing on the track and increase grip.

All of the drivers managed to get out for a timed lap early on, knowing that the results from FP3 could be used to form the grid if qualifying is unable to go ahead as planned later today.

The Ferrari duo of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen set the early pace, lapping over 20 seconds slower than usual dry conditions, but times improved as more and more drivers went out and cleared water.

Despite suffering an early spin, Hamilton managed to produce a lap of 1:59.517, handing him P1 on the timesheets as the only driver to get around COTA in less than two minutes.

Vettel finished eight-tenths of a second further back in second place ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Valtteri Bottas. Carlos Sainz Jr. rounded out the top five for Toro Rosso.

With 30 minutes remaining, the rain grew heavier, prompting the teams to call their drivers back into the pits and stop pushing for quicker lap times.

Many drivers pushed over the limit throughout the session, going off track as a result. Nico Rosberg suffered front wing damage after losing control of his car, while Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen also had spins.

Although some did head out for exploratory runs later on, the wet conditions meant that there were no lap time improvements, handing Hamilton P1 and the upper hand if qualifying is indeed cancelled.

Qualifying is due to take place at 1pm CT, but with rain expected to intensify around this time, it is unclear whether or not the session will go ahead.

COTA has now encouraged fans to start making their way to the track, believing that the schedule will be followed as originally planned in spite of the weather.

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

By May 29, 2023, 6:01 PM EDT
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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