U.S. Grand Prix: Kimi Raikkonen wins first F1 race since 2013; Lewis Hamilton still shy of fifth title - MotorSportsTalk

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton’s bid to clinch a fifth Formula One championship in Sunday’s U.S. Grand Prix came up short, as Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen won his first F1 race since 2013.

As a result, Hamilton’s closest challenger for the championship, Sebastian Vettel, saw his F1 title hopes remain alive for at least another race. Three races remain on the schedule now; next up is this coming weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix.

Pole-sitter Hamilton finished third, while Vettel finished fourth. Hamilton had won the last four U.S. Grand Prix’s and five of the last six at Circuit of the Americas coming into Sunday’s race.

It was an exceptional ride for Vettel, who recovered from first-lap contact with Daniel Ricciardo that spun Vettel around, leading him to roar back through the field after falling back to 15th place following the contact.

Raikkonen’s win at COTA in Austin, Texas, snapped a 112-race winless streak that dated back to the 2013 Australian Grand Prix (March 17, 2013), the longest drought between wins in F1 history. Riccardo Patrese previously held the record of 99 races between wins from 1983 to 1990.

“(Expletive) finally!” an exuberant Raikkonen said over his team radio after crossing the finish line for the first time in 2,044 days.

A Kimi Raikkonen fan celebrates at the podium ceremony following the U.S. Grand Prix Sunday at Circuit of The Americas. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

The Finnish driver earned his 21st career F1 triumph. At 39, he becomes the oldest F1 race winner since Nigel Mansell did so in 1994, also at the age of 39.

And in a nice bit of irony, Raikkonen’s win came exactly 11 years to the day that he won the F1 championship.

“I had to push hard, it was a battle,” Raikkonen said of Sunday’s race. “I had enough speed. We had to keep it consistent. Obviously, I’m happier than if I had finished second.”

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen also had a great run, starting 18th before finishing second.

Hamilton was forced to make a late pit stop, one more than his chief challengers, which likely cost him a shot at the title.

Even so, Hamilton still slightly increased his lead over Vettel from 67 to 70 points heading to Mexico City. Vettel must win each of the three remaining races to even stand a chance at overtaking Hamilton for the title.

However, even if Vettel wins at Mexico City, if Hamilton can finish seventh or better in the race, he will likely clinch the crown.

If Hamilton wins the championship, he’ll be only the third driver in F1 history to win five titles, tying him for second on the all-time championship wins list with Juan Manuel Fangio. Michael Schumacher owns the overall championship wins record with seven titles.

“We just have to keep working and pushing in the next race,” Hamilton said. “I’m still happy we got a top 3. It’s still close. Ferrari picked up their game this weekend so we’re going to push hard in the next race.”

Valtteri Bottas finished fifth, while sixth through 10th were Nico Hulkenberg, Carlos Sainz, Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen and Sergio Perez.

FINAL RESULTS:

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	TIME/RETIRED	PTS
1	7	Kimi Räikkönen	FERRARI	56	1:34:18.643	25
2	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER	56	+1.281s	18
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	56	+2.342s	15
4	5	Sebastian Vettel	FERRARI	56	+18.222s	12
5	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	56	+24.744s	10
6	27	Nico Hulkenberg	RENAULT	56	+87.210s	8
7	55	Carlos Sainz	RENAULT	56	+94.994s	6
8	31	Esteban Ocon	FORCE INDIA MERCEDES	56	+99.288s	4
9	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI	56	+100.657s	2
10	11	Sergio Perez	FORCE INDIA MERCEDES	56	+101.080s	1
11	28	Brendon Hartley	SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA	55	+1 lap	0
12	9	Marcus Ericsson	SAUBER FERRARI	55	+1 lap	0
13	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	MCLAREN RENAULT	55	+1 lap	0
14	10	Pierre Gasly	SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA	55	+1 lap	0
15	35	Sergey Sirotkin	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	55	+1 lap	0
16	18	Lance Stroll	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	54	+2 laps	0
NC	16	Charles Leclerc	SAUBER FERRARI	31	DNF	0
NC	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER	8	DNF	0
NC	8	Romain Grosjean	HAAS FERRARI	2	DNF	0
NC	14	Fernando Alonso	MCLAREN RENAULT	1	DNF	0

Follow @JerryBonkowski

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