Arguably, Indianapolis 500 qualifying is the most difficult of its kind in the world, as you have to be perfect over not just one but four laps, at speeds reaching a maximum of 240mph.
This year, pole was decided by 0.0197s over the four laps, or 0.004925s per lap, which means the line between pole and missing the race is marginal at best.
We’ve picked out some of the best and worst performers from Indy 500 qualifying – we haven’t included the two drivers who failed to qualify as that’s a bit obvious. With only two hours of practice remaining before the big race this Sunday, those in the negative column don’t have long to get things right.
Winners
One-car wonders
Three one car teams made the 500 and given the average qualifying speed was the highest it has ever been in Indy 500 history and so many of the biggest teams now field huge entries, that’s a truly amazing achievement in its own right.
Max Chilton goes off 29th for Carlin in what has been a strong week for the team, bouncing back from missing the Indianapolis road course race because Chilton couldn’t travel.
Sage Karam was the fastest car in what was his second ‘bump day’ (or last chance qualifying, as it’s now known) appearance, and the best Indy 500-only one-car team in Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Karam – who is also an esports ace – will start 31st.
One of the big stories of this year’s 500 was Paretta Autosport, aiming to be a female only team inspiring women into motorsport. With personnel of mixed gender and with motorsport and non-racing backgrounds alike, it’s had a strong build up to the 500 but the Penske engineering support hasn’t been as welcome as it usually would be as that team’s Indy 500 struggles continue.
However, nerves of steel herself Simona de Silvestro – referred to in the team’s press release as the ‘Iron Maiden’ – gave an interview from the cockpit of her car while still not knowing if she’s made the field and sat on the precipice. De Silvestro is every bit good enough to fight at the front of this field if gains can be made from the Penske side.
Team owner Beth Paretta said after making the race: “It’s like climbing a mountain and getting to the top and looking around to see how beautiful it is”. What a wonderful analogy.
Pietro Fittipaldi
A shocking sportscar crash which broke his legs at Spa’s Eau Rouge in 2018 robbed Pietro Fittipaldi of an Indy 500 debut, but in 2021 he’s back in the series racing Romain Grosjean’s car on the ovals – he’s also borrowed Grosjean’s ‘RV’ for the month.
Fittipaldi’s family obviously has a long history at the speedway – see Emerson Fittipaldi, Pietro’s grandfather, posing with a car covered in cash after his second Indy 500 win in 1993 – and Pietro qualifying 13th on his debut is no mean feat. He was 10th before late improvements bumped him down three spots.
Santino Ferrucci has shown what can be done at the Brickyard for this team if you’re willing to be risky and put it all on the line. We’ll have to see if Fittipaldi follows in similar form or takes a more conservative approach.
Chip Ganassi Racing
Any year you have all of your cars in the Indianapolis 500 ‘Fast Nine’ qualifying is a good one, and it just feels like Chip Ganassi Racing is unstoppable at the moment.
The only team to win two races in IndyCar this year – with Alex Palou at Barber and Scott Dixon at Texas – it’s 1-2 in the IndyCar championship standings and has all four of its cars in the top nine ready to capitalise on the double points this race awards.
Tony Kanaan’s fifth place is especially welcome. He struggled at Texas this year but that was through starting at the back as the field was set on championship points (and he’s only contesting the ovals in a drive-share with Jimmie Johnson), and some technical maladies. He appears back to his best now.
Uncertain last year if his IndyCar career was over and engaging in a ‘Tony’s last lap tour’, I doubt Kanaan imagined he’d be having one of his busiest racing seasons this year and his two-year deal looks like a stroke of genius from Ganassi based on what we’ve seen so far. It may only become more complicated by Johnson wanting to do the ovals next year too.
It’s Dixon’s fourth 500 pole but he’s desperate to finally add a second 500 win and there’s no better place to do that from. Pole is the place that on the grid that has delivered the most wins, 21, while second has 11 and third has 12.
Ed Carpenter Racing
Last year we saw the finger partly pointed at Chevrolet for its relatively poor performance across the 500, but once again Ed Carpenter Racing was its top team and this time it delivered a front row with Rinus VeeKay, the youngest driver ever to do so.
The team lives and breathes the 500 and the cheers when Ed Carpenter took provisional pole at the time – he’ll start fourth – show how popular ECR is at Indy. It’s now proven that the Chevy can be packaged to a frontrunning machine and deliver over four laps.
VeeKay’s breakthrough win on the Indy road course earlier this month just shows the team is riding the crest of a wave, and the odd road course win combined with a strong 500 is exactly what this smaller operation needs to succeed.
Helio Castroneves
Starting his first 500 for a team other than Penske – which had fielded him in the race every year from 2001-20 – Helio Castroneves will start eighth in the Indy 500. The three-time winner can do some damage from there.
Castroneves’ to Meyer Shank Racing move looks like a masterstroke given Penske’s struggles. More on that later.
Alright, Castroneves is 46 years old, but he’s proven here he’s still performing at a high level, and being a bit older has often proved a good thing at the speedway.
Also, a huge amount of credit must go to Meyer Shank Racing which waited beyond its initial opportunity to expand to a second car – Jack Harvey is its full-time entry – and the wait has clearly yielded the right personnel and a strong team working around a driver who can bring bucketloads of experience.
This is yet more proof of the shrewd moves made by owners Mike Shank and Jim Meyer, and if the race strategy matches it will be a good day for the Andretti-supported car.
Losers
Team Penske
No need for much explanation this year. There was no room for complacency for the 18-time winning team as it struggled last year too, and spent a whole load of energy on Indy 500 preparations in the off-season, which the drivers have repeatedly alluded to prior to the 2021 event.
However, rookie Scott McLaughlin was its best driver in 12th after the first runs – he was later bumped down to 17th by late improvers. Will Power and the affiliated Paretta entry of de Silvestro were having to fight to even make the field in ‘Bump Day’.
REPLAY: @12WillPower scuffs the wall in his first run of Last Chance Qualifying.
📺: NBCSN
📲: INDYCAR Mobile powered by NTT DATA – https://t.co/vyuISIgHnX #INDYCAR // #INDY500 pic.twitter.com/ic4Ybr10ak— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) May 23, 2021
Any way you draw this up it’s a devastating blow for Penske, and if the pre-race assessment that it’s going to be very difficult to overtake past the fourth car in the train is correct then it’s going to be another long Sunday for the team where getting into the top 10 is probably its best target.
It may regret not sending McLaughlin back out – something he was desperate to do – on Saturday after he’d dropped from 12th to 17th, as Josef Newgarden scored fifth in last year’s 500 from a 13th-place start last year. He was also ahead of winner Takuma Sato after the final stop and a slightly different set-up change may have produced a chance at victory.
You can never rule this team out and anything can happen in the 500. But with the data we have at our disposal, things look bleak.
Juan Pablo Montoya
Tough week for Montoya, who’s had his car on the ragged edge and only has 24th to show for it.
At least the driver of that car last year, Fernando Alonso, had a practice crash as an excuse. Arrow McLaren SP’s regular talisman Pato O’Ward starts 12th and Felix Rosenqvist 14th, so a better position should have been in the offing for Montoya.
We saw last year how tricky it is to move through the pack so this year might be a bit more ‘2016’ than ‘2000’ for Montoya, sadly for his fans.
He sounded extremely dejected after his qualifying run, and Montoya has never been one to mince his words.
But perhaps with the help of the team and the group back at McLaren’s factory in Woking, they can find something to improve things ahead of the event. There’s still two hours of practice remaining.
Santino Ferrucci
Seems like Ferrucci is having the ‘Alonso 2020’ year. A heavy crash in practice – like Alonso, although Ferrucci’s led to a foot injury and a limp – was not the ideal preparation as he joined the reigning winning Indy 500 team in Rahal Letterman Lanigan.
However, the aggressive junior has gone from 23rd to seventh and 19th to fourth in his two previous 500 appearances with Dale Coyne.
REPLAY: @SantinoFerrucci has been checked and will be sent to Methodist Hospital for further evaluation following this incident at @IMS.#INDYCAR // #INDY500 pic.twitter.com/CpQa1zf0Vf
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) May 20, 2021
If anyone can move up, it’s him.
His team-mates only narrowly missed out on making this list, as Sato is 15th and Graham Rahal 19th. Work to do in the race.
Marco Andretti
Last year’s polesitter has thrown the kitchen sink at the car this year but nothing appears to be working. Finding a problem with the floor after qualifying could be the answer he needs, though.
There’s no sign of rustiness in his driving as the 2020 pole sitter has switched to part-time IndyCar competition this year, but it’s really just not come together in 2021 as he starts 25th.
He’ll have to hope a reverse of 2020 has happened, as last year he was fast in qualifying then struggled in the race.
