Lewis Hamilton wins eighth at Hungary to tie Michael Schumacher

Associated PressJul 19, 2020, 12:45 PM EDT
Lewis Hamilton Hungarian
Dan Istitene - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
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BUDAPEST, Hungary — Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix for the eighth time to equal Michael Schumacher’s single-venue record and take the championship lead Sunday.

Hamilton’s latest victory from pole position was as comfortable as suggested by the nearly 9-second margin over runner-up Max Verstappen, who rebounded well from prerace drama.

The British driver’s 86th victory moved him within five of seven-time champion Schumacher’s record 91 victories in F1. Schumacher won the French GP eight times when it was held at Magny-Cours.

Hamilton, a six-time champion, first won in Hungary as a 2007 rookie, and his first success with Mercedes also came at the Hungaroring track in 2013, the year after replacing Schumacher on the Silver Arrows team.

Verstappen drove superbly to hold off Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas, who finished less than a second behind in third to relinquish the championship lead after three races.

Red Bull just managed to get Verstappen’s car on the grid for the start. About 20 minutes earlier, he damaged the front wing after hitting a curb and sliding into the barriers on a warmup lap.

Team principal Christian Horner looked on anxiously as mechanics replaced it and repaired the suspension, working frantically to get his car ready. They did with just minutes left.

Lewis Hamilton took a record-extending 90th career pole Saturday to match Schumacher’s record for seven poles in the Hungarian Grand Prix on the 4.4-kilometer (2.7-mile) track nestled among rolling hills outside of Budapest.

He made a clean start, but Bottas made a poor one from second and was overtaken by Lance Stroll (starting third), the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc,and Verstappen from seventh.

In a demoralizing sign of the times for Ferrari, both cars were lapped by Hamilton.

Stroll placed fourth ahead of Red Bull’s Alexander Albon, with Vettel sixth and Leclerc out of the points in 11th.

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