Israeli driver Robert Shwartzman’s highly anticipated debut at the Indianapolis 500 came to an abrupt end on Sunday after a pit stop crash injured multiple crew members and damaged his car beyond repair.
The 25-year-old Tel Aviv native, who was raised in Saint Petersburg and Italy, made history by becoming the first rookie to secure pole position at the Indy 500 since 1983, had been making a comeback through the field after early pit issues when the incident occurred under caution around lap 87 of the 200-lap, 500-mile race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“I think I had a pretty decent start today,” Shwartzman said in a televised interview, recounting how his car locked up unexpectedly during his second pit stop. “As soon as I touched my brakes, both front just locks and I just went straight into the guys.”
According to the driver, he entered pit lane slowly and tried to brake cautiously, but the car failed to respond. “At the moment when I braked I was just a passenger,” he said. “There was nothing, no brakes.”
Shwartzman said the cause of the failure was still under investigation. “We don’t know yet what’s happened with the car,” he added, noting it could be mechanical or due to cold tires.
He confirmed that four crew members were struck, including the team’s fueler, but that “luckily nobody got really hardly injured.”
Reflecting on the incident, Shwartzman called it “really sad” given his team’s strong qualifying performance. “This is Indy 500,” he said. “In a race, anything can happen. … We just need to learn from it and hopefully next year we will come and have a proper battle for the win.”
Shwartzman, a former Formula 2 standout and Ferrari Formula 1 reserve driver, made headlines this month by leading Prema Racing’s first-ever IndyCar qualifying effort to the front of the grid. He was aiming to become the first Israeli to win at the Brickyard.
