Alonso won $300,000 at Indy 500 despite retiring

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Fernando Alonso’s Indianapolis 500 appearance netted him a prize of $305,805 (£238,008) despite his retirement before the end of the race, the promoters have announced.

Alonso led 27 laps of the race but dropped out with 20 laps to go while running eighth.

Race winner Takuma Sato took the largest share of the prize fund, claiming $2,458,129 (£1,913,161). The total prize fund shared between the drivers was worth $13.1 million (£10.2m).

Here’s a full breakdown of what the 33 drivers won in Sunday’s race:

Sato is $2.4m better off after his win
1. Takuma Sato (200 laps, running) – $2,458,129 (£1,917,341)
2. Helio Castroneves (200 laps, running) – $770,629 (£601,091)
3. Ed Jones (200 laps, running) – $535,629 (£417,791)
4. Max Chilton (200 laps, running) – $484,129 (£377,621)
5. Tony Kanaan (200 laps, running) – $438,129 (£341,741)
6. Juan Pablo Montoya (200 laps, running) – $255,805 (£199,528)
7. Alexander Rossi (200 laps, running) – $420,629 (£328,091)
8. Marco Andretti (200 laps, running) – $384,629 (£300,011)
9. Gabby Chaves (200 laps, running) – $235,305 (£183,538)
10. Carlos Munoz (200 laps, running) – $364,129 (£284,021)
11. Ed Carpenter (200 laps, running) – $395,129 (£308,201)
12. Graham Rahal (200 laps, running) – $361,129 (£281,681)
13. Mikhail Aleshin (200 laps, running) – $355,629 (£277,391)
14. Simon Pagenaud (200 laps, running) – $349,129 (£272,321)
15. Sebastian Saavedra (200 laps, running) – $210,305 (£164,038)
16. JR Hildebrand (200 laps, running) – $345,129 (£269,201)
17. Pippa Mann (199 laps, running) – $200,305 (£156,238)
18. Spencer Pigot (194 laps, running) – $200,305 (£156,238)
19. Josef Newgarden (186 laps, running) – $334,129 (£260,621)
20. James Davison (183 laps, contact) – $355,129 (£277,001)
21. Oriol Servia (183 laps, contact) – $200,305 (£156,238)
22. James Hinchcliffe (183 laps, contact) – $349,129 (£272,321)
23. Will Power (183 laps, contact) – $388,129 (£302,741)
24. Fernando Alonso (179 laps, mechanical) – $305,805 (£238,528)
25. Charlie Kimball (166 laps, mechanical) – $339,129 (£264,521)
26. Zach Veach (155 laps, mechanical) – $200,805 (£156,628)
27. Ryan Hunter-Reay (136 laps, mechanical) – $351,629 (£274,271)
28. Sage Karam (125 laps, mechanical) – $202,805 (£158,188)
29. Buddy Lazier (118 laps, contact) – $200,305 (£156,238)
30. Conor Daly (65 laps, contact) – $334,129 (£260,621)
31. Jack Harvey (65 laps, contact) – $205,805 (£160,528)
32. Scott Dixon (52 laps, contact) – $446,629 (£348,371)
33. Jay Howard (45 laps, contact) – $200,305 (£156,238)

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Keith Collantine
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55 comments on “Alonso won $300,000 at Indy 500 despite retiring”

  1. Lol, thats pocket change for Alonso. He carries that around in his wallet on a daily basis :)

    1. Nando should donate that money. He did a great job, Honda let him down again but he was driving well and could fight for the top prize.

      Lewis has a point when he says he was not impressed by Indy (mostly by Indy drivers) because many average F1 alumni were punching well, after Rossi win last year it was Max Chilton smelling the milk 5 laps before the end… Max Chilton?

  2. #WorthIt

    Lol, then again he could have had 2.5 milions…

  3. How is this calculated?

    1. I wondered that. Its a strange breakdown of prizes.
      Perhaps laps led and distance is included

    2. Don’t know the exact details, but the standout here is that every full-season driver got paid significantly more than the Indy-only starters. Dixon also got a lot of money (and this year, points) for the pole.

  4. $ 300,000 wasn’t that much compared to other drivers, but based on what exactly was the prize fund distributed over the drivers? Race result and number of laps led?

    1. I think there might have been a factor of making it into the top 9 too, see how much Dixon got despite only making it to lap 52 before the crash.

  5. petebaldwin (@)
    30th May 2017, 10:43

    If this was F1, half of the drivers would have minus figures and Castroneves would have been paid more than Sato.

    1. Spot on!

    2. Hans (@hanswesterbeek)
      30th May 2017, 17:21

      COTD right there! :-)

  6. I’m sure McLaren’s accountants will grudgingly accept this paltry amount of money. I don’t think it will be enough to cover the expenses from Jenson’s crash.

    1. @drycrust That crash doesnt cost much. They make the spareparts and have the engineers payed and on standby anyway.

      1. I had based the cost of repairs estimate upon a comment by the commentators of the Indianapolis 500 race when there was that multi-car pile up. They said there was over a million dollars worth of damage in that pile up. Jenson’s crash happened at a much slower speed so the damage will be less and less expensive. So yes, I probably did slightly exaggerate the cost of repairs.

      2. @drycrust
        Yes theres over a million dollars worth of material in that pile but most of it would be replaced after the race anyway and the spareparts are bought and payed for along time ago.

        Its the same for Jensons car, i doubt there is much of it that will be brought to the next race crash or not.

        The cars being built by one time use parts is one thing that makes them so bloody expensive.

  7. 300k is ok lol I guess untill you rewind some of the crashes, the one where it went airborne and hit the side of the barrier … owch.
    also did Alonso get the 300k what did the team get for themselves?

  8. Does this include merchandise, press conferences, sponsors and the lot?
    And here I thought the payment system in F1 made no sense.

    Top 5 seem to earn a standard amount. From P6 down is where it gets confusing.
    Looking at the table it’s noticeable that drivers who’ve led a few laps, earned more then some higher placed finishers.
    Montoya (6th place $255.000) finished ahead of Rossi (7th place $420.000) yet the latter had earned almost 200.000 more. And it can’t be because that Rossi won last year. Montoya is a two time winner.
    Alonso ($305.000) and Hunter-Reay ($351.000) who both retired also earned more. In fact 9 out of 17 retirements has earned more than the 6th place finisher.
    Scott Dixon received $450.000 after only racing 52 laps. Is Pole worth that much?

    1. It’s a matter of the sponsorships a team chooses to put on their cars. There are sponsors that will offer teams a set amount (say…$10K) to put their sticker on the car.
      It seems like a obvious cash grab but teams will turn down offers on principal (like not having alcohol on the car) or due to sponsor conflicts (like having a Red Bull decal on a Monster sponsored car).
      That and minor post-race awards (like Most Laps Lead or Fastest Pit Stop) lead to the odd payouts. It’s very common in NASCAR as well…

      1. Key thing i didn’t put right earlier. The sponsors i’m talking about make offers to ALL (or nearly all) of the teams. It’s not a big, major sponsor for one car. It’s a smaller sponsor looking for blanket coverage across multiple cars, though with much smaller decals…

    2. Probably it’s because all those people, who recieved significally less (Montoya, Chavez, Pippa, etc.) are not full-time drivers this year.

    3. Pole at Indy pays $100,000

  9. Pretty sure that $300k is how much he makes in 3 days by doing nothing.

  10. The prize money is usually split with the team and the the division between team/driver is contract dependent. The top line drivers will usually get a healthy amount, whilst many of the others won’t actually get anything like the figures listed.

  11. Scott Dixon’s horrendous crash is officially recorded as ‘contact’

    1. That is fair. What else was it?

    2. Biggest result from contact ever.

  12. It may be pocket change to Alonso, but those are pretty nice payouts for most of the drivers. How much would Max Chilton earn in a year? Possibly less than what he just earned in the Indy 500 (I think he did very well, btw).

    1. Andre Furtado
      31st May 2017, 1:05

      F1 is so expensive lance stroll is paying for his own.

  13. Is this just the driver’s prize – i.e. is there another prize for the team, or is this driver and team lumped together?
    To put it in proportion, what’s the entry fee? (just in case I fancy a crack at this next year – after all $200k for coming last is quite attractive…)

  14. UNEEDAFINN2WIN
    30th May 2017, 13:06

    Indycar contracts are very different so Sato propably received a percentage of that total, most of it going to Andretti Autosport for running the car. There’s been a discussion going on about that for the last few years. Basically, a very simple description is that most drivers are on a salary (paid mainly by a sponsor(s), top guys maybe get a guarantee from Penske/Ganassi/Andretti), there are bonuses for achieving certain goals but what the driver makes from the prize fund is not what is reported.

  15. I believe Alonso earned another $50,000 for the Rookie of the Year award. $350K should ease the pain of his engine blowing, but it sure would have been fun to see him finish.

  16. petebaldwin (@)
    30th May 2017, 13:31

    As a comparison, what did Vettel get paid by F1 as a prize for winning at Monaco?

    1. @petebaldwin
      I don’t think there’s any prize money for drivers in F1. Ferrari might benefit indirectly at the end of the season, with their result in the Constructors’ Championship being a factor in the calculation of the share they receive from the commercial rights holder.
      Vettel might have earned some extra money if his contracts with Ferrari and/or some of his sponsors contain clauses about bonus payments. If not, his regular salary from Ferrari and his sponsors is all he gets.

      1. There used to be prize money in F1 in the past. Don’t know about now.

    2. 40 million euro / 20 races = 2 million euro regardless of result :)

  17. Fernando, how about jumping back in the car to do a couple of IndyCar street courses? The have a double race weekend for the Detroit GP, Saturday and Sunday. Then, the next weekend you head north across the border to the Canadian GP. That would be fantastic!

  18. Looks like $200,305 is the minimum; not bad for a weekend of work and quali if the driver grosses that.

    I’d race just that and do nothing else the rest of the 360ish days of the year.

    1. Amen to that lol

    2. If you can find a team that will let you do that, a team that has to cover their costs also. It is not as simple as putting your name down to race the indy 500, if it was, thousands of drivers would try to enter the race.

  19. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    30th May 2017, 15:13

    The plane trips back and forth cost more than that :-)

  20. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    30th May 2017, 15:13

    The plane trips back and forth cost more than that :-)

  21. Good value would be the sponsers on Alonso’s suit who got the Indy 500 thrown in.

  22. Fun fact, he also won the Rookie of the Year award despite another (real) rookie finishing 3rd.

    Another fun fact: I was at the Speedway the day before the race, and his name was already etched onto the Rookie of the Year trophy.

    1. Prove it please. And alonso drove a better race than jones beside finalv result.

    2. Calling BS on this…proof?.. How did you see the trophy?

    3. It was on display at the museum that’s in the infield. I didn’t bother taking a picture of that trophy, but now I wish I did. I would be skeptical too, but I swear it’s true!

  23. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
    30th May 2017, 18:50

    Someone needs to tell the Daily Mail, they would love this…

  24. A first time team in F1 doesn’t get that even for running the whole season.

  25. I wonder if Alonso got a pay cut for missing Monaco, surely not, I’m sure the sponsors were onboard. If you were to purely divide his salary for his races in f1, this indy check is quite small, as he earns 2 million per race in f1.

    1. mark jackson
      30th May 2017, 23:05

      Considering Nando only does a dozen or so laps per F1 race, that’s like $100-$150k per lap. :P

  26. And Alonso gets the car also. Wonder if it comes with burning smell or he gets a new working engine according to his contract?

    1. Im pretty sure he can get an extra Honda engine if he wants it.

      1. They’d give him a GP2 engine.

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