The ultimate guide to the 2020 Indy 500

For many motorsport fans, the Indy 500 is one of the very first races put on their calendar at the start of the year. The race usually forms one of the most significant days of the motorsport season, sandwiched between the Monaco Grand Prix and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 and providing the ultimate test of your sofa’s endurance.

Aside from the time of year, the 2020 running of the Indy 500 will have a wealth of other firsts. The most noticeable will be that which has been at almost all major sports events in 2020 – the absence of fans.

US motorsport titan Roger Penske bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (the Brickyard, as the real fans call it due to the track surface once being paved entirely in bricks) and IndyCar at the end of 2019. In early June Penske stated that the Indy 500 would be run with fans, and would continue to be postponed until the fans were allowed in. At the end of June a second announcement stated that the race would be run with 50 per cent fan capacity. A month later this had been reduced to 25 per cent capacity and all spectators must wear facemasks. At the start of August, however, following local recommendations the decision was made to hold the race with no fans in attendance.

Empty grandstands won’t be the only visual alteration from the norm in 2020. Like Formula 1, IndyCar has been working hard at improving the safety of its drivers and this year has seen the debut of the Aeroscreen. Combining the F1-style halo with effectively a windscreen, the aeroscreen has had a somewhat turbulent start to its life, with drivers complaining of extreme temperatures in its first two outings, thanks to a lack of the airflow they would usually get in their open-top cars.With a new air duct added to aid the cooling for drivers, the aeroscreen proved its worth at Iowa in July, Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay being saved from a potentially serious injury when Colton Herta’s car deflected off the screen at VeeKay’s helmet level.

Turning to the race itself, it’s already looking like this is going to be a very good year if you’re a fan of Andretti Autosports. Run by Michael Andretti, the son of legendary Mario, the team locked out the top four spots in qualifying ahead of the ‘Fast 9’ shootout session, with Michael’s son Marco the fastest of the four. He continued this speed into the Fast 9, taking an Andretti to pole postion for the first time since Mario last did so in 1987. Team-mates Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe and Alex Rossi qualified fifth, sixth and ninth respectively.

Andretti Autosport has not visited Victory Lane at the Brickyard since 2017, and it would be incredibly fitting for the team to taste the milk traditionally given to every winner once again in the year that Mario celebrates his 80^th birthday. Would it be too much to ask for an Andretti to win in a car bearing the Andretti name in such a significant year? It certainly won’t be easy, as sitting behind Marco in similar machinery are the IndyCar big guns of Ryan Hunter-Reay, Alexander Rossi and James Hinchicliffe. That being said, nothing seems too far-fetched in 2020.

Andretti Autosport was the team with which Fernando Alonso famously made his impressive Indy debut with in 2017, before engine trouble plagued his result. Alonso returns to the Brickyard this year with Arrow McLaren SP in what is realistically his last chance to claim the Triple Crown (F1 World Championship, Le Mans and Indy 500)  he is oh-so desperate to win. The two-time F1 World Champion is returning to Formula 1 with Renault in 2021, and team boss Cyril Abiteboul has already gone on record to say that while under contract with the French team, Alonso “will not have any distractions” – so it really is now or never for Fernando.

Unfortunately for the Spaniard, it hasn’t been the perfect start to this year’s Indianapolis story, though infinitely better than his failed qualifying attempt 16 months ago. Alonso crashed heavily in practice, forcing the Arrow McLaren team to work through the night to get the car ready for running in qualifying. Only managing 26^th on the grid, he was comprehensively beaten by his rookie teammates Pato O’Ward and Oliver Askew.

What will also be holding back Alonso’s chance at glory will be what sits under the engine cover of his McLaren. It is well documented that Fernando and Honda don’t get on, so it’s no surprise that he isn’t working with a team that features one of the Japanese engines. But Honda really do seem to have Indy nailed down this year, powering eight of the cars in the Fast 9. If you look even deeper, only four cars in the top half of the field have the rival Chevrolet power. By contrast, only three Hondas are in the bottom half.

One Chevrolet runner looking to vastly improve their fortunes from qualifying will be reigning Indy 500 champion Simon Pagenaud. The Frenchman came from the back of the grid to win for Team Penske at Iowa Speedway last month, and a maximum score at the Brickyard could see him leap to the top of the points standings by Sunday evening.

The Iowa double header was a strong weekend for the Penske squad, with Josef Newgarden taking a clean sweep of pole, race win, fastest lap and most laps led on Sunday’s race. That brace of victories for Penske put an end to the 100 per cent win record for Chip Ganassi Racing in the delayed and truncated IndyCar championship.

Although backing an Indy 500 driver is like backing a horse in the Grand National, if you were fancying a flutter the smart money would appear to be on Ganassi’s Scott Dixon. The five-time IndyCar champion started the year off with three consecutive victories and now sits with a 55-point lead at the top of the standings. Despite only the one Indy 500 victory to his name, with a starting position in the middle of the front row, Dixon should only be counted out with immense caution.

Almost as hard fought over as the race itself is the battle to be crowned Rookie of the Year. Five drivers will be going up for the honours this year, with the previously mentioned Rinus VeeKay the most impressive. Not only did he qualify in fourth, but he was the only driver to take a Chevrolet-powered car into the Fast 9 Shootout. Fellow rookie Alex Palou, who also made the Shootout, set the fastest single lap time of the session on his opening lap, but tailed off over the remaining three before finishing with the seventh best time in his Dale Coyne Racing machine.

Other rookies include the two Arrow McLaren cars of Pato O’Ward and Oliver Askew, who qualified 15^th and 21^st respectively, while Dalton Kellet could only manage 24^th for A.J. Foyt Enterprises.

For British fans, three drivers will be waving the Union Flag, but any chance of a British victory is incredibly slim. Jack Harvey, Max Chilton and Ben Hanley will enter the race for Meyer Shank Racing, Carlin and DragonSpeed respectively, all of which are single-car entries. Harvey was the best of the Brits in qualifying and will line up 20^th, the second-worst result for a Honda, while Chilton will start 30^th with Hanley 33^rd and last.

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When is the Indy 500? What time does the Indy 500 start?

The 2020 Indy 500 is on Sunday 23^rd August. As a result of the summer heat in Indiana, and helpfully avoiding a clash with the Women’s British Open golf tournament (which US sports network NBC will also be covering), the race will start later at 2:30pm EST (7:30pm for Britain) rather than the usual 12:45pm.

Where can I watch the Indy 500?

For anyone wishing to follow the race in Britain, Sky Sports F1 has you covered, bringing every lap live of the 104^th running of the Indianapolis 500. Coverage starts at 6pm BST, an hour and a half before the start of the race

In the USA, the 2020 Indy 500 will be shown on NBC, with coverage also available with the NBC Sports App. Coverage starts at 1pm EST, an hour and a half before the start of the race.

How many cars are in the Indy 500?

The Indy 500 always has a larger grid than a regular Indy 500 race, and in 2020, as in previous years, 33 cars will take part.

2020 Indy 500 entry list and starting grid – who is racing in the 2020 Indy 500?

The 33 cars lining up for the start of the 2020 Indy 500 are as follows, with Marco Andretti on pole and five rookies new to the Brickyard.

‘Fast 9’

Grid spots 10-33

How long is the Indy 500?

The Indy 500 is 500 miles long, and as Indianapolis is 2.5 miles in length there will be 200 laps and, depending on the number of yellow flag periods, the race should take about three hours.

How many 2020 IndyCar drivers have won the Indy 500?

There are eight drivers in the 2020 Indy 500 who have won the Indy 500 in previous years. Hélio Castroneves tops the list with three wins at the Brickyard, followed by Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan with two apiece.

• Hélio Castroneves – 3 (2001, 2002, 2009)
• Scott Dixon – 2 (2013, 2015)
• Tony Kanaan – 2 (2005, 2013)
• Ryan Hunter–Reay – 1 (2014)
• Alexander Rossi – 1 (2016)
• Takuma Sato – 1 (2017)
• Will power – 1 (2018)
• Simon Pagenaud – 1 (2019)

Who has won the most Indy 500s?

There are three drivers who have won the Indy four times, equaling each other with the most Indy 500 victories: Rick Mears, Al Unser Sr. and A.J. Foyt. After them there are seven drivers who have won the race three times and nine drivers who have won the race twice.

• Rick Mears – 4 (1979, 1984, 1988, 1991)
• Al Unser Sr. – 4 (1970, 1971, 1978, 1987)
• J. Foyt – 4 (1961, 1964, 1967, 1977)
• Dario Franchitti – 3 (2007, 2010, 2012)
• Helio Castroneves – 3 (2001, 2002, 2009)
• Bobby Unser – 3 (1968, 1975, 1981)
• Johnny Rutherford – 3 (1974, 1976, 1980)
• Mauri Rose – 3 (1941, 1947, 1948)
• Wilbur Shaw – 3 (1937, 1939, 1940)
• Louis Meyer – 3 (1928, 1933, 1936)
• Tommy Milton – 2 (1921, 1923)
• Bill Vukovich – 2 (1953, 1954)
• Rodger Ward – 2 (1959, 1962)
• Gordon Johncock – 2 (1973, 1982)
• Emerson Fittipaldi – 2 (1989, 1993)
• Al Unser Jr. – 2 (1992, 1994)
• Arie Luyendyk – 2 (1990, 1997)
• Dan Wheldon – 2 (2005, 2011)
• Juan Pablo Montoya – 2 (2000, 2015)

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.