Indianapolis F1 Records & Statistics

Indianapolis F1 records and United States Grand Prix statistics

Indianapolis Motor Speedway has one of the most unusual records of any venue in Formula 1 World Championship history. The legendary Brickyard first appeared in the championship through the Indianapolis 500 from 1950 to 1960, before Formula 1 returned four decades later with a purpose-built road course for the United States Grand Prix from 2000 through 2007.

Ferrari is central to both eras. Alberto Ascari brought a specially developed Ferrari 375 Indianapolis to the 1952 Indy 500, while Michael Schumacher later dominated Formula 1’s modern Indianapolis period with five victories. Ferrari won six of the eight United States Grands Prix held on the road course, achieved five pole positions, five one-two finishes and six consecutive fastest laps from 2002 through 2007.

Indianapolis hosted 19 Formula 1 World Championship rounds

Indianapolis Motor Speedway appears 19 times in Formula 1’s official World Championship history.

The first 11 events were the Indianapolis 500 races held from 1950 through 1960. Although those races were run under American championship regulations rather than conventional Formula 1 rules, they awarded points towards the Formula 1 Drivers’ World Championship.

Formula 1 later returned to Indianapolis for eight consecutive United States Grands Prix from 2000 through 2007 on a completely different road-course configuration.

The Indianapolis 500 counted towards the Formula 1 World Championship from 1950 to 1960

The Indianapolis 500 formed part of the inaugural Formula 1 World Championship calendar in 1950 and remained a championship round through 1960.

The inclusion was unusual because the cars, technical rules and drivers involved at Indianapolis were largely separate from the European Grand Prix scene.

Formula 1 has acknowledged that there was virtually no regular crossover between the championship’s European drivers and the Indianapolis field during this period.

For historical circuit statistics, however, those 11 races remain part of the official World Championship record and should therefore be distinguished from, rather than erased from, Indianapolis Formula 1 history.

The Indianapolis oval measures 4.023 km in F1DB

F1DB records the historic Indianapolis oval used for the 1950–1960 World Championship rounds at 4.023 km with four turns.

This configuration is completely different from the Formula 1 road course introduced in 2000.

Oval qualifying also followed Indianapolis-specific procedures, including four-lap qualifying runs, so its pole-position times should not be compared directly with the single-lap qualifying records from the later Formula 1 road circuit.

Johnnie Parsons won the first World Championship Indianapolis 500 in 1950

The first Indianapolis 500 included in the Formula 1 World Championship was held on 30 May 1950.

Johnnie Parsons won in a Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser after the race was stopped early because of rain.

Only 138 of the scheduled 200 laps were completed, but Parsons received the World Championship points awarded to the winner.

Indianapolis therefore became part of Formula 1’s statistical history only 17 days after the championship itself had begun at Silverstone.

Bill Vukovich is the only multiple winner from the 1950–1960 Indianapolis World Championship era

Eleven Indianapolis 500 races counted towards the World Championship between 1950 and 1960, but only one driver won more than once.

Bill Vukovich won consecutive races in 1953 and 1954.

The other World Championship-era Indianapolis winners were Johnnie Parsons, Lee Wallard, Troy Ruttman, Bob Sweikert, Pat Flaherty, Sam Hanks, Jimmy Bryan, Rodger Ward and Jim Rathmann.

Ferrari entered the Indianapolis 500 with Alberto Ascari in 1952

The most important Ferrari connection to the early Indianapolis World Championship era came in 1952.

Ferrari developed the 375 Indianapolis specifically for the event and assigned one works car to reigning Grand Prix star Alberto Ascari.

The project represented one of the rare attempts by a leading European Formula 1 manufacturer and driver to challenge the specialised American machinery at Indianapolis during the period when the 500 counted towards the World Championship.

The Ferrari 375 Indianapolis used a 4.4-litre V12

Ferrari’s Indianapolis challenger was derived from the 375 Formula 1 concept but developed specifically for the demands of the Speedway.

Ferrari records the 375 Indianapolis with a front-mounted 4,382.09 cc V12 producing approximately 380 hp at 7,500 rpm.

The car also received modifications intended to cope with the sustained high-speed running of the Indianapolis oval.

Alberto Ascari skipped the Swiss Grand Prix to prepare for Indianapolis

Ascari’s Indianapolis programme was taken seriously enough for him to miss the opening European championship round of his 1952 season.

While Piero Taruffi won the Swiss Grand Prix for Ferrari, Ascari was in the United States preparing and qualifying for the Indianapolis 500.

The unusual decision remains one of the clearest examples of how important Ferrari considered the Indianapolis experiment.

Alberto Ascari qualified 19th at Indianapolis in 1952

Ascari successfully qualified the Ferrari for the 33-car starting field.

His four-lap qualifying time placed him 19th on the grid, making him the only works Ferrari driver to start a World Championship Indianapolis 500.

Ferrari also records that additional 375 Indianapolis cars acquired by American entrants failed to qualify for the race.

Alberto Ascari climbed as high as eighth before retiring

The Ferrari performed better during the early part of the race than its starting position suggested.

Ascari moved forward from 19th and had climbed as high as eighth position.

His challenge ended after 40 completed laps when a wheel problem sent the Ferrari spinning at Turn 4.

The official Formula 1 classification records Ascari as a retirement in 31st position.

Ferrari never returned to the World Championship-era Indianapolis 500

The 1952 appearance remained Ferrari’s only works attempt during the years when the Indianapolis 500 counted towards the Formula 1 World Championship.

Ascari returned to Europe after the unsuccessful American trip and immediately began one of the most dominant championship runs in Formula 1 history.

He won all six remaining World Championship Grands Prix he contested in 1952 and secured Ferrari’s first Drivers’ World Championship.

Jim Rathmann set the World Championship-era Indianapolis race lap record in 1960

The fastest official race lap recorded during the Indianapolis 500’s Formula 1 World Championship period came in its final year.

Jim Rathmann set a 1:01.590 on lap 197 of the 1960 Indianapolis 500.

Rathmann also won the race, defeating Rodger Ward after an intense late contest.

The 1:01.590 therefore remains the official World Championship race-lap benchmark for F1DB’s 4.023 km Indianapolis oval configuration.

Eddie Sachs took the final World Championship Indianapolis pole

Eddie Sachs started the 1960 Indianapolis 500 from pole with a four-lap qualifying time of 4:05.580.

That was the quickest pole aggregate recorded during the Indianapolis 500’s 1950–1960 World Championship period.

Because Indianapolis qualifying was measured across four consecutive laps, the figure should not be presented as a normal single-lap Formula 1 qualifying record.

The Indianapolis 500 left the Formula 1 World Championship after 1960

The 1960 race became the final Indianapolis 500 to award Formula 1 World Championship points.

The separation between the European Grand Prix championship and American oval racing had always been substantial, and the Indianapolis round disappeared from the Formula 1 calendar from 1961.

The Speedway continued to host the Indianapolis 500 independently, while Formula 1’s direct relationship with the venue remained dormant for four decades.

Formula 1 returned to Indianapolis in 2000

A very different Formula 1 era began when Indianapolis Motor Speedway created a dedicated road course for the United States Grand Prix.

The first modern Formula 1 race at the Speedway took place on 24 September 2000 and marked the return of the United States Grand Prix to the championship after the previous American race at Phoenix in 1991.

An estimated 250,000 spectators attended Formula 1’s return, filling the enormous Indianapolis grandstands.

The Formula 1 Indianapolis road course measured 4.192 km

F1DB records the 2000–2007 Formula 1 configuration at 4.192 km with 13 turns, running clockwise.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway lists the same layout at 2.605 miles.

The Formula 1 cars travelled in the opposite direction to the traditional Indianapolis oval races, combining a purpose-built infield section with parts of the famous Speedway banking and front straight.

Formula 1 used part of the Indianapolis oval

The road course was unusual because it incorporated significant sections of one of the world’s most famous oval circuits.

Drivers raced through the infield before joining the oval and accelerating through the final banked corner onto Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s immense main straight.

The final oval section became particularly demanding for tyres because Formula 1 cars sustained very high lateral loads while accelerating at full throttle.

Michael Schumacher took pole for Formula 1’s return in 2000

Ferrari immediately established itself as the team to beat at Indianapolis.

Michael Schumacher took pole position for the inaugural road-course race with a 1:14.266.

David Coulthard qualified second for McLaren and Mika Häkkinen third, while Rubens Barrichello started fourth in the second Ferrari.

Ferrari scored a one-two in the first Indianapolis United States Grand Prix

Michael Schumacher converted pole into victory in 2000 and was followed home by Rubens Barrichello.

Schumacher won by 12.118 seconds, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen finishing third.

The Ferrari one-two was particularly valuable in Schumacher’s championship fight with Mika Häkkinen, whose McLaren retired after 25 laps.

Ferrari therefore began the modern Indianapolis era with pole position, victory and a one-two finish.

Michael Schumacher took another Ferrari pole in 2001

Schumacher retained his remarkable Indianapolis qualifying record one year later.

The Ferrari driver took pole with a 1:11.708, ahead of Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya.

Rubens Barrichello qualified fifth in the second Ferrari.

Michael Schumacher would ultimately accumulate four Indianapolis road-course poles, more than any other Formula 1 driver.

Mika Häkkinen won his final Formula 1 Grand Prix at Indianapolis

Ferrari did not win the 2001 United States Grand Prix.

Mika Häkkinen took victory for McLaren, finishing 11.046 seconds ahead of Michael Schumacher.

The result became the 20th and final Grand Prix victory of Häkkinen’s Formula 1 career.

Rubens Barrichello was classified as a retirement after completing 71 of the 73 laps.

Ferrari locked out the front row in 2002

Michael Schumacher returned to pole position in 2002 with a 1:10.790.

Rubens Barrichello qualified second at 1:11.058, giving Ferrari complete control of the front row.

Schumacher and Barrichello had already secured both championships during Ferrari’s dominant season, leaving the team free to control much of the Grand Prix.

Rubens Barrichello won the closest Indianapolis Formula 1 finish

The 2002 United States Grand Prix produced an extraordinary finish between the two Ferraris.

Michael Schumacher slowed dramatically approaching the chequered flag in an attempt to bring the cars across the line together.

He slowed slightly too much, and Rubens Barrichello was officially classified as the winner by just 0.011 seconds.

It remains the closest winning margin from Formula 1’s eight-race Indianapolis road-course period.

Rubens Barrichello also set the 2002 fastest lap

Barrichello recorded a 1:12.738 on lap 27.

Michael Schumacher was only 0.016 seconds slower in the sister Ferrari.

The result began a remarkable sequence in which Ferrari set the fastest lap in every Indianapolis United States Grand Prix from 2002 through the final event in 2007.

Kimi Räikkönen took pole in 2003 but Michael Schumacher won

The 2003 race arrived during a far more difficult championship battle for Ferrari.

Kimi Räikkönen took pole for McLaren with a 1:11.670, while Rubens Barrichello qualified second and Michael Schumacher started only seventh.

Changing weather transformed the race, and Schumacher recovered to take a crucial victory.

Räikkönen finished second, 18.258 seconds behind, while Heinz-Harald Frentzen completed the podium.

Michael Schumacher set Ferrari’s fastest lap in 2003

Schumacher recorded a 1:11.473 on lap 13 of the 2003 Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver was only 0.052 seconds faster than Fernando Alonso and 0.122 seconds ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya’s best lap.

The combination of victory and fastest lap strengthened Schumacher’s championship position before the season finale in Japan.

Jarno Trulli recorded the fastest qualifying-session lap ever set on the F1 road course

The Indianapolis qualifying statistics contain an important technical distinction.

During the first qualifying session in 2003, Jarno Trulli recorded a 1:09.566 for Renault.

That is the fastest lap recorded in any official Formula 1 qualifying session on the 4.192 km Indianapolis road course.

However, it did not determine the race grid. Under the 2003 qualifying format, the decisive later session produced Kimi Räikkönen’s pole time of 1:11.670.

Rubens Barrichello holds the Indianapolis pole-lap benchmark

If the comparison is restricted specifically to the lap that secured pole position for the Grand Prix, Rubens Barrichello holds the Indianapolis benchmark.

The Ferrari driver recorded a 1:10.223 to take pole for the 2004 United States Grand Prix.

Michael Schumacher qualified second with a 1:10.400, giving Ferrari another front-row lockout.

This distinction between fastest qualifying-session lap and fastest pole-winning lap prevents the different qualifying formats of the period from being confused.

Ferrari dominated Indianapolis in 2004

Michael Schumacher won the 2004 United States Grand Prix from second on the grid.

Rubens Barrichello finished second, 2.950 seconds behind, while Takuma Sato completed the podium.

Ferrari therefore recorded another one-two at Indianapolis during a season in which the Scuderia dominated both World Championships.

Rubens Barrichello set the official Indianapolis Formula 1 race lap record

The fastest official Grand Prix lap on the 4.192 km Formula 1 road course belongs to Rubens Barrichello.

He recorded a 1:10.399 on lap 7 of the 2004 United States Grand Prix.

Michael Schumacher was only 0.013 seconds slower with a 1:10.412.

Barrichello’s 1:10.399 remained unbeaten through Formula 1’s final Indianapolis race in 2007 and is the official race-lap benchmark for the F1DB road-course configuration.

The 2004 race also featured a major Turn 13 accident

The high-speed banked final corner became the scene of one of Indianapolis Formula 1’s most serious accidents in 2004.

Ralf Schumacher suffered a heavy crash in his Williams at the oval section of the circuit.

The incident highlighted the enormous loads generated through the banked corner and became particularly relevant when tyre problems emerged at the same section one year later.

The 2005 United States Grand Prix became one of Formula 1’s most controversial races

The 2005 Indianapolis weekend is remembered for a tyre-safety crisis that reduced the Grand Prix to only six starters.

Problems with Michelin tyres around the high-speed banked section meant Michelin could not guarantee that its teams could race safely under the existing conditions.

Seven Michelin-supplied teams completed the formation lap and then returned to the pits.

Only the Bridgestone-equipped Ferraris, Jordans and Minardis remained to take the start.

Jarno Trulli took pole in 2005 but did not start the race

Before the tyre crisis reached its conclusion, Jarno Trulli had taken the first Formula 1 pole position for Toyota.

He recorded a 1:10.625, ahead of Kimi Räikkönen and Jenson Button.

Michael Schumacher qualified fifth for Ferrari and Rubens Barrichello seventh.

Trulli and every other Michelin driver withdrew after the formation lap, meaning the pole-sitter never actually started the Grand Prix.

Michael Schumacher won the six-car 2005 Indianapolis race

With only six Bridgestone-equipped cars competing, Ferrari was overwhelmingly expected to win.

Michael Schumacher finished first after 73 laps, 1.522 seconds ahead of Rubens Barrichello.

Tiago Monteiro finished third for Jordan, one lap behind, with Narain Karthikeyan fourth and the two Minardis fifth and sixth.

The result gave Ferrari another Indianapolis one-two but remains inseparable from the unprecedented circumstances surrounding the race.

The 2005 victory was Michael Schumacher’s only win of the season

Ferrari struggled relative to Renault and McLaren throughout much of the 2005 season.

Indianapolis produced Michael Schumacher’s only Grand Prix victory of the year.

He also set the fastest lap at 1:11.497, with Rubens Barrichello second-fastest at 1:11.649.

Ferrari returned to a conventional one-two in 2006

Formula 1 returned to Indianapolis one year later with a full competitive field.

Michael Schumacher took pole position with a 1:10.832, while Felipe Massa completed an all-Ferrari front row at 1:11.435.

Schumacher went on to win, with Massa finishing second 7.984 seconds behind.

Giancarlo Fisichella completed the podium for Renault.

The 2006 race was Michael Schumacher’s fifth Indianapolis victory

Schumacher’s success gave him five victories from only seven Indianapolis road-course starts.

He had previously won in 2000, 2003, 2004 and 2005.

His fifth victory established a record that remains unmatched from Formula 1’s period at Indianapolis.

Michael Schumacher holds the Indianapolis road-course wins record

Michael Schumacher is comfortably the most successful Formula 1 driver from the 2000–2007 Indianapolis era with five victories.

Rubens Barrichello, Mika Häkkinen and Lewis Hamilton each won once.

Schumacher therefore won five of the eight United States Grands Prix held at the Speedway road circuit.

Michael Schumacher also holds the Indianapolis pole record

Schumacher took four pole positions on the Indianapolis Formula 1 road course.

His poles came in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2006.

Rubens Barrichello, Kimi Räikkönen, Jarno Trulli and Lewis Hamilton each took one pole during the eight-race period.

Ferrari consequently accumulated five Indianapolis road-course poles in total.

Ferrari won six of eight Indianapolis United States Grands Prix

No constructor came close to Ferrari’s Indianapolis record during Formula 1’s modern period at the Speedway.

The Scuderia won in 2000 with Michael Schumacher, in 2002 with Rubens Barrichello and then four consecutive races with Schumacher from 2003 through 2006.

McLaren is the only other constructor to win at Indianapolis, through Mika Häkkinen in 2001 and Lewis Hamilton in 2007.

Ferrari therefore won 75 per cent of the eight United States Grands Prix held on the Formula 1 road circuit.

Ferrari recorded five Indianapolis one-two finishes

Ferrari’s dominance was even clearer in the number of races where both cars occupied the top two positions.

The Scuderia scored Indianapolis one-two finishes in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Those five results account for the majority of Ferrari’s 13 individual podium finishes from the eight United States Grands Prix at the venue.

Ferrari set six consecutive Indianapolis fastest laps

From 2002 until Formula 1 left Indianapolis after 2007, every Grand Prix fastest lap belonged to Ferrari.

Rubens Barrichello set the fastest lap in 2002 and 2004, Michael Schumacher did so in 2003, 2005 and 2006, and Kimi Räikkönen completed the sequence in 2007.

The run includes Barrichello’s permanent road-course race record of 1:10.399.

Lewis Hamilton won Formula 1’s final Indianapolis Grand Prix in 2007

The last Formula 1 United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis took place on 17 June 2007.

Lewis Hamilton took pole position for McLaren with a 1:12.331 and resisted teammate Fernando Alonso throughout the race.

Hamilton won by 1.518 seconds, recording the second Grand Prix victory of his rookie season only one week after his maiden win in Canada.

Ferrari finished third and fourth in the final Indianapolis race

Felipe Massa was Ferrari’s leading driver in the 2007 Grand Prix.

He qualified third and finished third, 12.842 seconds behind Lewis Hamilton.

Kimi Räikkönen finished fourth, only 2.580 seconds behind his teammate.

The result gave Ferrari its 13th and final Indianapolis road-course podium through Massa.

Kimi Räikkönen set the final Formula 1 Indianapolis fastest lap

Although Ferrari did not win in 2007, Kimi Räikkönen recorded the fastest lap of the Grand Prix.

His 1:13.117 on lap 49 was 0.105 seconds faster than Lewis Hamilton’s best lap.

The result extended Ferrari’s fastest-lap streak at Indianapolis to six consecutive races.

Sebastian Vettel made his Formula 1 race debut at Indianapolis in 2007

The final Indianapolis Grand Prix also became a major career milestone for Sebastian Vettel.

The German replaced Robert Kubica at BMW Sauber and qualified seventh for his first Formula 1 race start.

Vettel finished eighth and scored a World Championship point on debut.

Years later, he would become a four-time World Champion and eventually race for Ferrari, adding another important Scuderia-related connection to Indianapolis history.

Formula 1 left Indianapolis after the 2007 season

The 2007 United States Grand Prix became the eighth and final Formula 1 race on the Speedway road course.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Formula One Management were unable to reach terms for another event, and no United States Grand Prix was scheduled at the venue for 2008.

Formula 1 eventually returned to the United States at Circuit of The Americas in Austin in 2012.

The modern Indianapolis road course is different from the Formula 1 layout

Indianapolis Motor Speedway continues to use an infield road circuit for other forms of motorsport, but the configuration has been substantially modified since Formula 1 left.

The circuit used by IndyCar and other modern series should therefore not be confused with the 4.192 km, 13-turn Formula 1 configuration used from 2000 through 2007.

Lap records from the modern layout are statistically separate from Formula 1’s historical Indianapolis road-course records.

Indianapolis has two separate Formula 1 record sets

The venue’s statistics need to be divided between its two F1DB layouts.

For the 4.023 km oval used in the 1950–1960 World Championship Indianapolis 500s, Jim Rathmann holds the official race-lap benchmark at 1:01.590 from 1960. Indianapolis pole qualifying used four-lap runs rather than conventional single-lap Formula 1 qualifying.

For the 4.192 km road circuit used from 2000 to 2007, Rubens Barrichello holds the official Grand Prix race record at 1:10.399 from 2004.

The fastest pole-winning road-course lap is also Barrichello’s 1:10.223 from 2004, while Jarno Trulli’s 1:09.566 from the first 2003 qualifying session is the fastest lap recorded in any official qualifying session.

Ferrari’s complete Formula 1 record at Indianapolis

Ferrari’s Indianapolis World Championship history spans two radically different periods separated by almost half a century.

In 1952, Alberto Ascari qualified 19th for the Indianapolis 500 in the specially developed Ferrari 375 Indianapolis. He climbed as high as eighth before a wheel problem ended his race after 40 laps.

When Formula 1 returned with the road-course United States Grand Prix in 2000, Ferrari became the dominant constructor at the venue. The Scuderia won six of eight races, achieved five pole positions, five one-two finishes, 13 individual podiums and six consecutive fastest laps from 2002 through 2007.

Michael Schumacher contributed five victories and four poles, making him by far the most successful Formula 1 driver of the Indianapolis road-course era. Rubens Barrichello added Ferrari’s other victory and holds both the fastest pole-winning lap and official race-lap record.

Kimi Räikkönen then set the fastest lap in Formula 1’s final Indianapolis race, while Felipe Massa delivered Ferrari’s final podium with third place in 2007.

Ferrari’s Indianapolis road-course wins

• 2000: Michael Schumacher
• 2002: Rubens Barrichello
• 2003: Michael Schumacher
• 2004: Michael Schumacher
• 2005: Michael Schumacher
• 2006: Michael Schumacher

That six-win total makes Indianapolis one of Ferrari’s strongest Formula 1 circuits from the modern era.

Indianapolis road-course Formula 1 winners

Only four drivers won the United States Grand Prix during its eight seasons at Indianapolis.

Michael Schumacher leads with five victories. Rubens Barrichello won once for Ferrari, while Mika Häkkinen and Lewis Hamilton each won once for McLaren.

The extreme concentration of victories between Ferrari and McLaren means no Williams, Renault, Toyota or other constructor won a Formula 1 Grand Prix on the Indianapolis road course.

Ferrari’s Indianapolis dominance was built around Michael Schumacher

Michael Schumacher’s record at Indianapolis is one of the strongest circuit-specific records of his Ferrari career.

He won the inaugural road-course race in 2000, finished second in 2001 and 2002, and then produced four consecutive victories between 2003 and 2006.

Across seven Indianapolis starts, Schumacher therefore finished outside the top two only once.

His five wins and four poles remain the defining driver statistics of Formula 1’s Indianapolis period.

Indianapolis connects two very different Ferrari eras

Few circuits can link Alberto Ascari’s early Ferrari career directly with Michael Schumacher’s dominant championship years.

Ascari’s 1952 Indianapolis attempt came during the season in which he would secure Ferrari’s first Drivers’ World Championship.

Almost 50 years later, Schumacher turned the Speedway into one of Ferrari’s most successful modern venues, winning five times and helping the Scuderia establish records that still stand.

That combination gives Indianapolis a uniquely broad Ferrari history stretching from the front-engined V12 era to the sophisticated V10 Formula 1 cars of the 2000s.

Indianapolis records should be separated from the wider United States Grand Prix history

The United States Grand Prix has been held at numerous venues across Formula 1 history, so Indianapolis statistics should not be confused with the event’s complete national record.

Formula 1 has also raced at Sebring, Riverside, Watkins Glen, Long Beach, Detroit, Dallas, Phoenix and Circuit of The Americas, among other American venues.

Indianapolis is nevertheless unique because it appears in the World Championship both through the Indianapolis 500 and through a later conventional Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Explore other American Formula 1 circuit records

Compare Indianapolis with our Sebring F1 Records & Statistics, Riverside F1 Records & Statistics, Watkins Glen F1 Records & Statistics, Caesars Palace F1 Records & Statistics, Dallas F1 Records & Statistics, Detroit F1 Records & Statistics, Phoenix F1 Records & Statistics and Circuit of The Americas F1 Records & Statistics pages.

Why Indianapolis remains unique in Formula 1 history

Indianapolis Motor Speedway combines several statistical stories that no other Formula 1 venue can reproduce.

It was part of the championship through the Indianapolis 500 before conventional Formula 1 racing ever visited the venue. Ferrari made a rare American oval attempt with Alberto Ascari in 1952, then returned decades later to dominate the purpose-built road course.

The modern period produced Michael Schumacher’s five victories, five Ferrari one-two finishes, the 0.011-second Barrichello victory in 2002, the controversial six-car race of 2005 and Lewis Hamilton’s victory in the final Grand Prix in 2007.

Those radically different eras make Indianapolis one of the richest and most unusual circuits in the Formula 1 World Championship record book.

Explore more Formula 1 circuit records

Use the F1 Circuit Records & Statistics database to compare Indianapolis Motor Speedway with other current and historic Formula 1 venues. You can also browse the Formula 1 circuits section for broader Grand Prix history, circuit guides and track information.