The Monaco Grand Prix and the Indy 500 take place on the same day this weekend, but which F1 drivers have won the great American race
The Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500 are both parts of Motorsport’s unofficial triple crown. Each is the crown jewel of their respective series, with drivers placing a higher value on a Monaco or Indy win than most others.
But which F1 drivers have travelled to America to compete in the 500-mile Brickyard race?
Full List Of F1 Drivers Who Have Won Indy 500
Who are the lucky winners? Check out the F1 drivers who have won the INDY 500
The Indy 500 was on the F1 calendar between 1950 and 1959, but drivers rarely competed.
The hassle of a month-long trip to the speedway wasn’t worth it because the race was only included to put the ‘world’ in the world championship.
Although the winners of these races, such as 1950 winner Johnnie Parsons, are listed on the F1 wins list, they are not counted for the purposes of this article.
The Indy 500 has been won by 12 different Formula One drivers, beginning with Roger Ward. Ward started 12 Formula One races, ten of which were the Indy 500. However, he did compete in two F1 races, including the United States Grand Prix, so he is counted.
In 1959 and 1962, he won the Indy 500 twice. Jim Clark visited the Speedway in 1965 and won the big prize for Lotus. Clark was the dominant figure in Formula One, and he is the only man to have won both the Indy 500 and the F1 world championship in the same year.
The creator of history
Graham Hill, Damon’s father, completed the second leg of the triple crown in 1966. He was the 1962 F1 world champion, and his victory at Indy in 1966 made him only the third F1 driver to do so. Fast forward to 1972, and Hill would complete the triple crown by winning the Le Mans 24 Hours. Nobody else has done it.
Mario Andretti
Mario Andretti won the 1969 race to round out the 1960s, nine years before becoming F1 world champion.
Andretti is the only man to have won the world championship, the Indianapolis 500, and the NASCAR Daytona 500, and he is considered American motorsport royalty.
SPIN and WIN for an F1 driver in the INDY 500
Mark Donohue, working with Roger Penske, raced in a few F1 races in the mid-1970s before being killed in the 1975 Austrian Grand Prix. His only Indy 500 victory came in 1972.
The next F1 driver would have to wait 13 years before winning the Indy 500.
Dany Sullivan famously spun and won the 1985 race, two years after his one and only F1 season. He won by chasing down Andretti after the 360 spin.
INDY 500 driver controversy
Emerson Fittipaldi, the 1972 and 1974 world champion, has won the Indy 500 twice, in 1989 and 1993. However, after his second victory, which came after a late caution against reigning world champion Nigel Mansell, Fittipaldi broke with tradition by refusing to drink milk.
He drank orange juice instead, which the audience has yet to forgive him for. Two years later, Jacques Villeneuve won the 1995 Indy 500 before moving to F1 with Williams in 1996 and winning the championship in 1997.
In current field, INDY 500 F1 winners
Juan Pablo Montoya took the milk for Penske in 2000 and again in 2015. JPM was only in F1 for six years, from 2001 to 2006, and came close to winning the championship in 2003. His last F1 race was in 2006 at Indy.
Alexander Rossi raced for Manor in a few F1 races in 2015 before joining Andretti Autosport, where he won the Indy 500 as a rookie! In 2016, he eked out enough fuel to win the 100th running of the great race.
Takuma Sato is the 12th and final F1 driver to win the Indy 500.
Sato, who won his only F1 podium in 2004 at Indy, is a two-time winner, having drunk the milk in 2017 and again in 2020. As the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the 2020 race was held behind closed doors.
F1 winners of the INDY 500
Roger Ward – 1959, 1962
Jim Clark – 1965
Graham Hill – 1966
Mark Donohue – 1972
Danny Sullivan – 1985
Emerson Fittipaldi – 1989, 1993
Jacques Villeneuve – 1995
Juan Pablo Montoya – 2000, 2015
Alexander Rossi – 2016
Takuma Sato – 2017, 2020
F1 world champions include Clark, Hill, Fittipaldi, and Villeneuve. In 2022, Romain Grosjean and Marcus Ericsson will have the opportunity to become the 13th F1 driver to win the Indy 500.
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