Shwartzman's Indy 500 hopes dashed, credited P29 after pitlane crash

Robert Shwartzman’s fairytale Indianapolis 500 debut met its end against the wall in his pit box with three PREMA Racing crew members knocked to the ground as a result of the No. 83 Chevy sliding into the stall.

Shwartzman hit the wall with his left-front wheel and tire, which damaged his suspension and nose, and struck his left-side tire changers and refueler. One of the three had an injured foot from the hit and stepped onto a gurney to be seen by medical staff.

“I was going slow coming in the pit lane, I locked both front tires, which usually is not the case,” Shwartzman said. “I wasn't sure if it was the brakes or because the tire were cold. And then when I came back to my pit I [actually] did not push. I tried to be very slow, but as soon as I touched my brakes, my fronts just lock and just went straight into the guys. Luckily, nobody got really injured.

“Was really scary, because at the moment when I braked, it was nothing, no brakes. We don't know yet what's happened. We'll need to have a look and understand if there was any mechanical issue, or it's just cold tires. It's really sad because we did such great work with qualifying, but in a 500-mile race, anything can happen. We just need to learn from it, and hopefully next year we'll come and have a proper battle for the win.”

Shwartzman placed 29th in his first Indy 500.