Indy500: The Greatest Spectacle in Racing

The Indy500 is flagship event of the Indycar series and is one third of the triple crown of motorsport. It is known as 'The Greatest Spectacle in racing.'

The event is the one which requires flat out racing to win it. It is an oval track containing 4 high speed left handers. It's not that simple though. There are many factors you need to address while you are driving 230 miles per hour. It's a 200 lap race. Each lap being 2.5 miles. The Indy500 is different from other races as the drivers have to deal with constant stoppages, safety periods and restarts which allow a driver to charge from lower down the order in the later stages of the race. Speed? Endurance? Waiting for the right moment? Wheel to wheel racing with no room for error? You get it all at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the Indy500!!! 

The 101st event of the Indy500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indiana received increased attention. This was due to 2 time Formula 1 World Champion Fernando Alonso had announced that he would miss the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix ( the Monaco Grand Prix is part of the motorsport triple crown. Alonso had won this race twice) in an attempt to win the Indy500 and move one step closer in becoming the 2nd man after Briton Graham Hill to complete the motorsport triple crown. 

 The McClaren Andretti Honda, driven by Alonso, was one of six cars entered into the Indy500 by the Andretti Autosport team. Alonso put in an impressive 4 laps in the fast 9 of qualifying to take 5^th on the grid in his debut oval track qualifying run.

All the 33 cars made a clean getaway, but, the race was littered with caution periods, the first one arrived after 53 laps. It caused the red flag to come out, and stop the race.

The crash on lap 53 featuring Dixon's car in the air and Howard's car on the asphalt

Pole sitter Scott Dixon’s Chip Granassi Racing was caught by an out of control Jay Howard who hit the wall on turn 1 and lost control of his car, he slid back and Scott Dixon hit his out of control car, the impact resulted in him getting propelled into the air and his car breaking after getting smashed on the barriers and the asphalt. Mercifully the driver’s cockpit managed to remain intact and Scott Dixon was able to leave the car on his own feet.

Fernando Alonso was leading the race at this point and the restart following the clean up of debris from the crash, started from behind him. Alonso struggled at the restart and dropped back.
In lap 67 came the second caution period Conor Daly crashed into the outside wall on turn 3, Jack Harvey tried to dodge the debris, but spun and crashed into the wall.

Caution flew once again on lap 81 as debris from Marco Andretti's car broke off and landed on the course on the front straight. The majority of the field elected to pit during the caution. A useful strategy so as to not drop many places and take advantage of the slow speeds to be maintained on track.

Further cautions were called in lap 122, 130 and 138 which constantly bunched the field together.

Fernando Alonso skipped Monaco as he had a McClaren in Formula 1 that was horrible in straightline speed and he was tired of the Honda engine stalling in the back of his car.

Ryan Hunter-Reay’s Honda engine blew up and Alonso took over the lead.  The stars seemed to be aligning to give Alonso a fairytale rookie victory at 'The Brickyard' .On lap 179 Alonso's Orange McClaren Andretti Autosport was in 9^th ,just 1 spot behind Andretti team mate Takuma Sato before he felt the familiar sensation of his engine failing. The Honda engine went up in smoke and so did Alonso’s hopes of winning the Indy500. The curse of Honda had followed the man across the Atlantic to a different racing series.

 As the man cambered out of the car a 300,000 strong crowd gave him a standing ovation. He was a rookie, but, if people weren’t aware of the fact, he would have been considered a veteran IndyCar racer for, it seemed like he had been driving on ovals all his life. Alonso was named rookie of the year and deservedly so as he lead for 27 laps which was the third most laps led by any driver in the race.

"I felt the noise and the engine friction so I backed off," said Alonso. "It's a shame because I felt we deserved to finish and experience the last lap - who knows where we could have finished."

A 5 car crash between turn 1 and 2 on lap 183 saw the final caution period. 

After 7 cautions, 1 red flag, and multiple re starts we now had 10 laps of flat out wheel to wheel racing. It was still anyone’s race as the cars were closely bunched together and flying across the oval shaped asphalt at speeds northwards of 220 mph.

"You have to stay calm, be ready for the last one-third of the race. That is where it comes."- Fernando Alonso.

16 out of the 33 made it to the final 10 laps. They had stayed calm and now it was a 200 mile an hour sprint to the finish.

Following the final restart on lap 190, the 3 time Indy500 winner Helio Castroneves stormed past Ed Jones and stormed into the race lead. Max Chilton who lead for the most laps in the race was overtaken by Castroneves and then quickly passed by Sato and Ed Jones. With 5 laps to go it was a duel between Takuma Sato and Helio Castroneves, Sato made a pass and gained the lead. However this is the Indy500 and even a small error would see him fall out of the top 10 or even crash out of the race as errors at over 220 mph are costly. He had crashed out of the 2012 Indy500 after attempting to pass the lead driver. As Sato and Castroneves headed into the final turn it was still anybody's race. Sato eventually crossed the line, 3 hours 13 minutes and 3 seconds after starting the race and was 0.2011 seconds ahead of Castroneves.

The Japanese driver held his nerve and despite the Alonso debacle, a Honda powered car won the Indy500 with a Japanese driver at the wheel. The ex-Formula 1 driver won his first race at the famed Brickyard which also was the first win for an Asian. He made his way to the winner’s circle and gulped down the bottle of milk as per tradition and emptied a bit of the milk onto himself.

Indy500 winner Takuma Sato celebrating on Victory Lane

After such a strong showing Fernando Alonso could be motivated to switch to the IndyCar series if he isn’t able to find a championship winning car in Formula1.

With its flat out wheel to wheel racing, stoppages, re starts, crashes and a high speed sprint for the win right up to the chequered flag, the race billed as the greatest spectacle in racing, lived up to it's billing and delivered a thriller!