– After five days of absolutely smooth driving operations in preparation for the Indy 500 (including the two-day pre-test, it was even seven absolutely smooth days), the first incident in the form of an accident occurred during Monday’s practice. Just under half an hour after the start of the practice, there was a crash caused by one of the three drivers who had qualified for the front row the day before in qualifying.
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Alexander Rossi (Carpenter-Chevrolet) lost control of his car with oversteer exiting Turn 2 and crashed rear-first into the track barrier. The following Patricio “Pato” O’Ward (McLaren-Chevrolet) could not avoid it and crashed backwards into Rossi’s car after spinning himself. Romain Grosjean (Coyne-Honda) was also involved, who spun into the track barrier while trying to avoid the crash. All three drivers exited their vehicles under their own power.
In case a switch to the backup car is necessary, which is at least expected for Rossi, the starting positions earned in qualifying may be retained. Rossi would therefore also start from the front row in the backup car next Sunday and would not have to start from the back of the field as is required in cases like this in NASCAR.
Josef Newgarden with best time in shortened session
The Monday practice did not run for the full planned duration of two hours, but this was not due to the accident. Near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a thunderstorm began after about half of the planned session duration, which required evacuation of the grandstands.
And the rain that had been forecast anyway arrived shortly after, making further driving impossible. As a result, the session was stopped and declared over after just over an hour. Until then, there was intense pack racing with all 33 participants.
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The Monday practice was the penultimate free practice before the 500-mile race starts on Sunday (May 24). Since less driving than planned was possible in this session, only the two-hour final practice on Friday, the so-called “Carb-Day” (schedule, entry list, track data, background, livestream, TV: All information about the 2026 IndyCar season Indy 500), remains before the race.
The fastest in race trim was Josef Newgarden (Penske-Chevrolet) with a best pack-driven lap of 226.198 miles per hour (363.952 km/h). The format of four flying laps in a row has traditionally been discontinued with the qualifying completed on Sunday. The same applies to the increased boost pressure of the turbo engines from Chevrolet and Honda. Since Monday’s practice, the standard 1.3 bar boost pressure is again in effect.
The top 5 in the Monday practice standings behind the fastest of the day Josef Newgarden were Takuma Sato (Rahal-Honda), Dennis Hauger (Coyne-Honda), Ryan Hunter-Reay (McLaren-Chevrolet), and Marcus Ericsson (Andretti-Honda). Meanwhile, Mick Schumacher (Rahal-Honda) was classified 30th after completing 37 laps with a personal best lap of 220.273 miles per hour (354.419 km/h).
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Two penalties after qualifying
The starting grid for the race was decided over a one-day instead of a two-day qualifying weekend. Both the Q1 segment with 33 participants and the Top-12 Shootout and Fast-6 Shootout took place on Sunday because no running was possible on Saturday due to continuous rain. However, there were two penalties or disqualifications afterwards, so IndyCar issued a corrected starting grid.
Both Caio Collet (Foyt-Chevrolet) and Jack Harvey (Dreyer/Reinbold-Chevrolet) had their times deleted on Sunday evening, several hours after qualifying ended. Both were retroactively disqualified from qualifying and will be placed at the back of the 33-car field for the 110th Indy 500. They are still allowed to participate in the race.
The reason for the penalties are irregularities on the cars found during the technical inspection after qualifying. In both cases, unauthorized modifications were made to the casing of the Energy Management System (EMS), which is located in the area of the rear suspension. For exactly this reason, Andretti drivers Marcus Ericsson and Kyle Kirkwood were disqualified after the 2025 Indy 500. Ericsson lost the second place he had achieved in the race, Kirkwood the sixth place.
Mick Schumacher moves up from row 10 to row 9
This time, the two penalties concern qualifying. Caio Collet, one of three rookies among the regular IndyCar drivers in 2026, had actually made it into the Top-12 Shootout on Sunday and secured 10th place for his first Indy 500. Jack Harvey, one of the part-time starters in the field, had actually qualified 29th. Now they are moved to 32nd and 33rd starting positions respectively.
One of the beneficiaries of the demotions is Mick Schumacher. He had actually secured 28th place in the Q1 segment on Sunday but will now start his first Indy 500 from 27th place. In terms of starting row, this means Schumacher moves up from row 10 to row 9. He is now the rookie starting furthest forward among the three rookies in the field (Complete starting grid for the 110th Indy 500).
Schumacher will share the ninth of eleven starting rows at the race start on Sunday at 12:45 p.m. local time (6:45 p.m. CEST) with Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti-Honda), second in the current 2026 IndyCar standings, and Katherine Legge (HMD/Foyt-Chevrolet), the only woman in the starting field for this year’s Indy 500 (schedule, entry list, track data, background, livestream, TV: All information about the 2026 IndyCar season Indy 500).
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