USGP at Indianapolis

    Select a race account — 2000: Winner, M. Schumacher 2001: Winner, Hakkinen 2002: Winner, Barrichello 2003: Winner, M. Schumacher 2004: Winner, M. Schumacher 2005: Winner, M. Schumacher 2006: Winner, M. Schumacher 2007: Winner, L. Hamilton

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From 1950 through 1960, Indianapolis was part of the Formula One World Championship as a token attempt to "globalize" the series, but it wasn't until the Indy 500 left the F1 calendar that a significant number of GP drivers visited the Speedway.

Alberto Ascari finished 31st for Ferrari in 1952, and Nino Farina made an unsuccessful attempt to qualify in 1956, but the F1 invasion of the Brickyard began in earnest in 1961 when Jack Brabham finished ninth and brought John Cooper's rear-engined revolution to America. In the years that followed, Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Denis Hulme and Jochen Rindt all raced at Indianapolis, with Clark and Hill each ending up in Victory Lane. Stewart said, "In the 1960's, we Europeans were in awe of coming to the Brickyard. We never had anything this big in Europe. For us it was an immense challenge."

In 2000, the World Championship returned to the Speedway for a full-fledged round of a truly international series. The 2.606-mile (4.195 km) infield road course used approximately one mile of the storied oval, but in a clockwise direction. The combination of banked oval turn, 3000-meter straight (the longest in F1) and twisty infield sections required a difficult-to-achieve compromise setup for the teams.

The crowd of 250,000+ at the inaugural US Grand Prix at Indianapolis was the largest ever to view a Formula One race.