INDIANAPOLIS – This was road rage at the Indianapolis 500. This was Alexander Rossi pounding a fist onto his steering wheel, furious that his pit crew couldn’t get the fuel pump to work on lap 137. This was Rossi showing that fist to Oriol Servia as he passed him minutes later, outraged that the lapped Servia wasn’t getting the hell out of the way.
This was Alexander Rossi screaming through the field of the 2019 Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, starting eighth but working his way to the leaders and staying there, trending internationally on social media because the world loves a fighter. And Rossi was in a fighting mood.
Alas, this was not to be. Rossi won the day but Simon Pagenaud won the 103rd Indianapolis 500, passing Rossi once, twice, three times in the final 13 laps, the final time on the 199th lap, then holding off Rossi on Lap 200 to win by 0.2086 seconds. It was the seventh-closest finish in race history, an epic ending that will go down in Indy 500 lore.