Felix Rosenqvist wins dramatic Indy 500 in record-breaking finish

Felix Rosenqvist took his first win at the Indianapolis 500 after a dramatic last-lap shootout in a race that twice saw the red flags fly.

The Swedish driver looked out of contention for the victory throughout much of the 200-lap duration, but a decision to pit under caution for fuel with around 70 laps remaining, shifted him off the conventional strategy, and onto what transpired to be the race-winning plan. 

A caution with four laps remaining left Rosenqvist with work to do from third place, and he made the move on the last straight, drafting mast David Malukas inches before the line, winning by a 0.0232s margin - the closest margin in the history of the 'greatest spectacle in racing'. 

The early exchanges saw Alex Palou and Alexander Rossi work together at the front to maintain a lead, with 11 changes of lead in the first 17 laps. 

But the calmness came to an end as the track fell silent in memory of NASCAR legend Kyle Busch on lap 18, who tragically passed earlier in the week. 

Ryan Hunter-Reay lost control at Turn 1 and veered violently down the track, with Katherine Legge taking avoiding action. However, the movement saw her spin onto the infield, making heavy contact with the wall. 

All but four drivers stopped, but Rossi was the big loser of the phase, as a problem with his right rear dropped him out of the top 10, as Felix Rosenqvist and Scott McLaughlin moved into the net top three.

The race resumed on lap 27, but this lasted less than a lap, with Ed Carpenter the meat in an IndyCar sandwich, as Takuma Sato turned down the track, making minor contact with the veteran, but enough to pit Carpenter into a race-ending spin.

Following these quick-fire cautions, the pack settled into the race, with Josef Newgarden continuing his impressive climb from 23rd on the grid, finding himself in the top five after the second round of stops as the race approached lap 70.

Scott Dixon was another driver making progress, as he briefly took the lead from Chip Ganassi team-mate Palou, before dropping back to take the tow.

After just over 60 laps of green flag running, a reliability issue for Will Power caused the third caution of the race, after his Andretti "blew up", and he dropped fluid along the main straight and on the pit exit, which he had managed to drop onto before his rears locked. 

But moments later, Rossi's day came to an end, as for the second year in a row, his car crawled to a smouldering stop in the pit lane. After extracting himself from the car, the former 2015 Indy 500 winner was greeted with a standing ovation as fans recognised the effort he made to compete while injured. 

With the pit exit cleared, the pits opened on lap 97, allowing the field - lead by Dixon - to stop, easing fears that drivers could run out of fuel behind the safety car. 

As the caution continued, the race hit the crucial 101-lap distance marker, which means that the result can be declared in the event of a stoppage. This is particularly prevalent with the threat of rain growing by the moment.

The threat then became a reality, with light spots beginning to fall on lap 104. Reacting to this, race control threw the red flags on the following lap, with Dixon leading the pack into the pit lane in a 15-minute pause to the action.

Lap 110 saw the track go green again, with Palou getting close to Dixon's rear wheels into Turn 1, with the 2008 winner falling to fifth. 

But as Palou made his move, so too did David Malukas, who passed both of the leaders to assume the lead, snatching it straight back after the reigning champion briefly returned to the front. Home hero Conor Daly, who led earlier on, sat behind the pair in third, as they continued to trade positions.

A fourth caution period was invoked on lap 116 due to worsening track conditions, as the rain began to fall once more. Although still relatively light, it was clearly a greater intensity than earlier. 

Racing resumed on lap 126, but it was halted before the field had even reached the yard of bricks, as Newgarden lost control after touching the kerb on the inside of Turn 4, and spun into the wall, destroying the left-hand side of his car. After back-to-back wins in the Indy 500, he has now registered consecutive retirements. 

On restart number five, McLaughlin moved to the lead, before dropping back behind Daly, in what was the 50th change at the front in 134 laps. 

While Daly then dropped to third behind McLaughlin and Palou, the lead pair got a little too close for comfort, with millimetres separating the two yellow cars. 

On lap 148, McLaughlin and Malukas made their penultimate stop. Palou and Daly pitted the following lap. As the order settled once more, Malukas found himself in the lead, but potentially in need of another caution to remove the threat of the alternate strategy.

This threat eased when O'Ward stopped with 37 laps remaining, with drastic fuel saving needed to make the flag. One place behind, Rosenqvist was in a far stronger position, having pitted two laps later.

Malukas made his final stop on lap 176, with other frontrunners McLaughlin and Palou filling up on fuel a lap later. With all the planned stops out of the way, O'Ward found himself battling with backmarkers, costing the McLaren driver vital time. 

Spending some of his extra fuel, Rosenqvist made his move with 15 laps to go, passing O'Ward for the lead into Turn 1, before allowing the lapped Mick Schumacher past to provide a tow, and ease his fuel-saving mission, holding the lead as the counter ticked down to ten to go.

In a dramatic turn, a huge crash for Caio Collet put a devastating footnote on a strong month, as he crashed with eight laps remaining. So close to the end, the red flag was shown. 

The Brazilian lost the rear through Turn 2 and caught the slide, but not in time to prevent his car from smashing into the wall.

With four laps remaining, the green flag was shown again, as Rosenqvist led O'Ward to the line but Marcus Armstrong and Malukas stole the lead instantly. 

But with Jacob Abel striking the Turn 1 wall, the yellows were shown for a final time, leaving the prospect of a single-lap shoot-out for glory. 

Neither Armstrong nor Malukas had an IndyCar victory to their name, and Armstrong went early, snaking along the pit straight, but Malukas found his way past into Turn 1. Defending into Turn 4, Malukas now had Rosenqvist and O'Ward on his gearbox, with Rosenqvist taking the victory at the last, drafting past mere moments before crossing the line of bricks. 

A dramatic conclusion to an astonishing 110th Indianapolis 500, which featured a record-breaking 70 passes for the lead.