{"id":134547,"date":"2025-05-27T00:19:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T00:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/134547\/"},"modified":"2025-05-27T00:19:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T00:19:09","slug":"norris-and-leclerc-make-indy-500-feelings-very-clear-after-f1-switch-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/134547\/","title":{"rendered":"Norris and Leclerc make Indy 500 feelings very clear after F1 switch question"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the dust settled on Sunday\u2019s Monaco Grand Prix, the eyes of motorsport fans around the world turned to the next crown jewel event on the day\u2019s schedule: The Indy 500.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In fact, the top three drivers in the post-Monaco press conference chatted about the iconic race \u2014 including why they\u2019ll never contest it.<\/p>\n

The Indy 500 is of no appeal to Leclerc, Norris<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher<\/p>\n

For much of the last two decades, the final Sunday in May features a jam-packed schedule of crown jewel events in the motorsport realm.<\/p>\n

The day kicks off with Formula 1\u2019s Monaco Grand Prix \u2014 a race that, despite its more processional nature in the modern era, has nevertheless retained its ultra-luxe mystique. Winning at Monaco is a feather in the cap of many of F1\u2019s greatest racers.<\/p>\n

But as the post-race ceremonies die down, fans can flip immediately over to the pre-race ceremonies for the Indianapolis 500. Hosted 109 times since 1911, the 500-mile race on a fearsome 2.5-mile oval circuit in Indianapolis, Indiana launches its victor into motorsport immortality, sealed with a sip of milk in Victory Circle.<\/p>\n

Finally, there\u2019s NASCAR\u2019s Coca-Cola 600, founded in part to rival the Indy 500\u2019s grasp on the American motorsport psyche. The longest race of the year, it provides NASCAR racers with the opportunity to test their mettle over the course of 600 grueling miles.<\/p>\n

The first two events, Monaco and Indy, form two of the three legs of the \u2018motorsport Triple Crown,\u2019 which also consists of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Winning all three of these events is a signal of greatness, and only one man \u2014 Graham Hill \u2014 has managed to achieve the feat.<\/p>\n

But could we see any other modern F1 drivers try their hand at the fearsome oval?<\/p>\n

More analysis from the Monaco Grand Prix:<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49\u00a0Monaco GP driver ratings: Near-perfect Norris with a Russell bungle<\/a><\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49\u00a0Monaco GP conclusions: Norris\u2019s big reset, Leclerc unleashed, F1\u2019s failed experiment<\/a><\/p>\n

This was exactly the question posed to the top-three drivers in the post-Monaco FIA press conference \u2014 and all three denied any desire to compete at the oval, though Oscar Piastri did admit he planned to rush home to his couch to tune in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a crazy race,\u201d second-placed Charles Leclerc said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were just speaking with Oscar before; I don\u2019t think I will ever do it. I think it\u2019s a different level of craziness.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy in F1, I love F1, and I\u2019m fully focused on that first and foremost.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Leclerc, any deviation from the Formula 1 universe would turn toward a different leg of the motorsport Triple Crown.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother thing that I want to take is doing Le Mans with my brother,\u201d the Monegasque driver admitted. \u201cSo these are probably the two things that I really want to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndy 500 \u2014 I\u2019m not sure, but I have a lot of respect for these guys and I\u2019ll try to follow as much as I can tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for Leclerc, he also noted that his Ferrari post-race debriefs can run quite late, which could make tuning in a challenge.<\/p>\n

It was a similar story for Monaco Grand Prix winner Lando Norris.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot of respect for these guys,\u201d the Briton said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI say congrats to Robert Shwartzman for pole; it was pretty impressive. You know, I was his teammate back in 2015 or 2016, Formula Renault.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo to see him go on to do something like that I think is pretty cool, but it is something I\u2019ll never do.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan say it right now; I\u2019m not doing it. Just have no interest in doing it. Not my thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not what I enjoy, even though I\u2019ve done [the Indy 500] on the sim and it was quite fun, but I got taken out. It really didn\u2019t hurt; I could just press escape and I was good!<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I have a lot of respect for these guys. There\u2019s a lot of incredibly talented drivers over there in America, and some of them that could do very good in Formula 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, yeah; I like turning right as well. That\u2019s the main thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Indianapolis 500 actually appeared on the Formula 1 calendar between 1950 and 1960, but only one Grand Prix driver flew to America during that period to attempt the race: Alberto Ascari. The Ferrari driver\u2019s race ended on lap 40 with wheel trouble.<\/p>\n

But in the 1960s, entering and winning Indianapolis became a massive goal for many burgeoning F1-heavy race teams.<\/p>\n

In 1961, Jack Brabham took home a top-10 with a Cooper Climax, thus piquing the interest of none other than Team Lotus\u2019 Colin Chapman.<\/p>\n

Chapman arrived in 1963 with a rear-engined Lotus-Ford that driver Jim Clark powered to a stunning second-place finish. Clark shocked the field by taking pole in 1964, then winning the event in 1965.<\/p>\n

In the years that followed, Jackie Stewart, Graham Hill, Denny Hulme, and Jochen Rindt all tried their hand at the Indy 500 in addition to their packed European racing schedules, in large part because just finishing the race could result in a heftier paycheck than those drivers could amass throughout the remainder of the European racing calendar.<\/p>\n

Soon after, though, motorsport began to become more specialized \u2014 and in the modern era, the packed F1 calendar and the fact that all races now count toward the championship means Formula 1 drivers generally stick to Formula 1, while IndyCar drivers stick to IndyCar.<\/p>\n

The big exception here was Fernando Alonso, who skipped the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix to try his hand at Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

Read next:\u00a0Monaco GP driver ratings: Near-perfect Norris with a Russell bungle<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the dust settled on Sunday\u2019s Monaco Grand Prix, the eyes of motorsport fans around the world turned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[5070,4199,707,4200,225,24582,1711,52323,12,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-134547","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-charles-leclerc","9":"tag-f1","10":"tag-formula-1","11":"tag-formula1","12":"tag-home-page","13":"tag-indycar","14":"tag-lando-norris","15":"tag-monaco-grand-prix","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114576933839594666","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}