Rosenqvist wins photo-finish Indianapolis 500, takes maiden win over Malukas

Credit: Aaron Skillman

Meyer Shank Racing's Felix Rosenqvist secured a close and emotional win in the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500. He narrowly beat out David Malukas and Scott McLaughlin in a hard-fought, chaos-filled race.

How it happened

Álex Palou led the field to green ahead of Alex Rossi and David Malukas. The start was clean as Rossi took the lead heading into the first corner, holding onto it for just a moment before Palou was back in front by Turn 4.

A few places down, Santino Ferrucci was already on a charge, making his way from fifth up to third by the end of the first lap. Conversely, third-placed Malilas dropped down to fifth behind Ferrucci and Felix Rosenqvist. Even further down the field, former two-time Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden was up from 23rd to 18th, up five places in as many laps.

Rossi and Palou continued to trade the lead back and forth as Malukas recovered from his poor start to get back past Ferrucci. In the first 17 laps the top two drivers had switched places 11 times. But it was Palou in the lead on Lap 18 when the first caution of the day came out for Katherine Legge and Ryan Hunter-Reay. Hunter-Reay lost control of his car heading into Turn 2 and Legge spun attempting to avoid him.

Legge was attempting to complete The Double, a feat where a driver tries to complete both the Indy 500 and the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 (happening later today in Charlotte, NC) on the same day. As she retired from the race, that dream came to an end.

On Lap 20, under caution, the first set of pitstops were made, promoting Rinus VeeKay, Romain Grosjean and rookie Caio Collet into the top three. Palou was down in fifth after his stop, while Rossi dropped down to 17th. VeeKay and Grosjean led the field back to green on Lap 27, as Grosjean took the lead during the very brief period of racing. But cautions breed cautions, and Ed Carpenter of Ed Carpenter Racing was squeezed by Takuma Sato and spun out, becoming the next casualty of the race.

When racing was back underway on Lap 32, it was rookie Collet who took the lead as Palou jumped up to second, Grosjean falling down to fourth behind Conor Daly. One lap later, Palou got past Collet to retake the lead of the race. The crowd went wild shortly after as Indiana native Daly jumped up to take the lead.

His glory was short-lived as soon Collet was back in front, the Brazilian driver having gotten past Palou once again. Collet, who started all the way down in 32nd, continued to hold onto the lead with the rest of the field content to sit behind him.

But Collet was a pitstop behind most of the field, and had to come in and make a stop. By Lap 42 Palou was back in the lead ahead of Daly and the Team Penske trio of Malukas, Scott McLaughlin and Newgarden respectively.

The racing remained calm as everyone settled in, and by Lap 60 the order of the top five had not changed, a drastic slow-down from the start of the race. But inevitably it came time for pit stops, and on Lap 63 the Penske trio came in, McLaughlin coming out in 13th as the top Penske driver. Palou came in the following lap, handing the lead to his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon. Palou came out in seventh behind rookie Mick Schumacher.

Credit: Dominic Loyer

When Dixon came into the pits a lap later, he came out just two places behind Palou as Christian Rasmussen took the lead on track. But he soon got ahead of Palou and by Lap 69 he was in the lead of the race ahead of Palou and Rosenqvist, with the Penske trio lined up like ducklings behind them yet again.

The CGR teammates worked in tandem by trading the lead back and forth as the laps ticked by. They continued that way until Lap 92 when Will Power came into the pits with an issue before spinning on pit lane, bringing out the third caution of the day. Rossi was also in trouble as he pulled his ECR car into the pits right before it caught fire and he had to jump out.

The pit entry had to be cleaned as Power's Andretti car had leaked plenty of fluid all over it. With some drivers right at the end of their stint, there was a flurry of activity in the pits when the pitlane was opened on Lap 97. Dixon and Palou both came in from the lead, and a quick stop for Dixon allowed him to stay in the lead with Palou back out in second. Unsuprisingly at this point, the Penske trio occupied the rest of the top five behind them, Malukas leading Newgarden and McLaughlin.

100 laps and 250 miles into the race, the field was still under caution, as the threat of rain began to loom more heavily. On Lap 106 with rain on the ground and the threat of lightning nearby, the race was red-flagged with Dixon leading Palou, Malukas, Newgarden and McLaughlin. Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward was in sixth ahead of Rosenqvist, Marcus Ericsson, Daly and Marcus Armstrong rounded out the top 10.

But fortunately for fans and drivers wanting more racing, the red flag didn't last long, and soon engines were re-fired and the drivers were out on track again. On Lap 110 Dixon and Palou led the field back to green, Palou taking the lead and Malukas also getting past Dixon into the first corner.

But Malukas wasn't done, taking the lead from Palou at the next corner, as Daly jumped up to fourth, Dixon dropping to fifth. Despite Malukas defending hard, Palou got the lead back on Lap 112 briefly before the Penske driver was back in front again and Palou slotted in behind.

Malukas was still in the lead on Lap 116 when the caution came out once more as track conditions became an issue again. Palou and Daly were second and third, Newgarden and Dixon behind them.

After 10 laps of caution the track conditions were deemed good enough for racing again, and Malukas led the field to green. But before they could even begin Lap 126, Newgarden was running low on the track going into Turn 4, lost control, and hit the wall.

Credit: Paul Hurley

On Lap 131, still under caution, a number of drivers came into the pits, hoping for another caution at some point that would allow them to run with just one more stop. The drivers at the front stayed out, Malukas, Palou, Daly, Dixon and McLaughlin.

Two laps later, the green flag flew yet again, and this time it was Daly on a charge as Malukas dropped down to sixth at the first corner. Daly now swapped the lead back and forth with McLaughlin who had gotten up to second behind Palou. On Lap 134, as McLaughlin went to get past Daly again, Palou snuck in behind him and secured second place. But Daly wasn't done fighting, and got second place back a few laps later, and was back in the lead by Lap 138.

The lead changes continued as Palou was next to lead the race, followed by McLaughlin again. Malukas, meanwhile, was recovering from his poor start and secured third from Daly. Ericsson made his way up into the top five, with Kirkwood up from his 25th place start to seventh.

On Lap 147, Malukas broke up the Palou/McLaughlin passing party and took the lead once more. But on Lap 149, it was time for the leaders to pit again, and Kirkwood cycled up to the lead before Dixon took it back. After pitting, Palou and Malukas came out in 19th and 20th and continued to battle for the net lead, this time down in the middle of the pack.

With 39 laps to go, Rosenqvist was leading O'Ward and rookie Dennis Hauger, Armstrong and Ferrucci behind them. Malukas and Palou were working their way through the pack in 14th and 15th respectively. O'Ward made a pitstop with 36 laps to go, promoting Hauger to second place before he came in the following lap.

With Malukas and Palou now back in front and chasing the win, McLaughlin was up to third ahead of O'Ward and Rosenqvist. But the top three would all likely need one more pitstop, so the race was on for the drivers right behind them.

Malukas came in from the lead to make his final pitstop on Lap 175, coming back out after a clean stop. Palou came in a lap after him, coming out behind Malukas. O'Ward led Rosenqvist, Dixon, Armstrong and Kirkwood. With 17 laps to go and several more pitstops completed, Malukas was up to fourth with Palou down in seventh, Grosjean and Ferrucci between them. Maluas was flying much faster than the leaders and was looking formidable in the final laps of what would be not just his maiden 500 win, but also his maiden IndyCar race win.

But further up the field, Rosenqvist wasn't going down without a fight, finally getting past O'Ward for the lead of the race on Lap 185. They were running that way with eight laps to go when the caution came out as Collet's car was on fire and came to rest in the grass. The race was red flagged to allow Collet's car to be collected and still giving the drivers time to fight in the final laps.

With the red flag out, Rosenqvist was sitting in the lead ahead of O'Ward, Armstrong, Malukas and Grosjean behind him. Palou was sixth, Ferruci seventh, with Sato, VeeKay and McLaughlin rounding out the top 10.

The drivers came back out on track after the red flag, getting their engines started for the final time. With just four laps to go, it would be a free for all fight to the finish.

It was Armstrong who took the lead from Rosenqvist at the start, jumping his teammate and O'Ward to take the lead. The caution came out after Turn 1, but didn't last long and the race restarted with just one lap to go, Armstrong leading Malukas, Rosenqvist, O'Ward and VeeKay.

Malukas took the lead on the final restart, as Armstrong and Rosenqvist battled behind. It looked like Malulas was pulling ahead, but having passed his teammate, Rosenqvist jumped up to take Malukas to the line. As they came out of Turn 4 the two battled neck and neck, and it was near impossible to tell who would come out ahead.

In the end it was Rosenqvist by just a matter of metres, taking his maiden Indy 500 win over Malukas. McLaughlin secured third place ahead of an eternally unlucky O'Ward. Armstrong, so close to his maiden IndyCar win, finished an impressive fifth in the end.

VeeKay secured sixth ahead of polesitter Palou, while Ferrucci, Grosjean and Sato rounded out the top 10. Full results can be found here.