Indy 500 star drives into his mechanics in pit lane in horror incident

Robert Shwartzman drove into his mechanics during a mistimed pitstop at this weekend's Indy 500 race. The Israeli-born driver, who races for Prema Racing, misjudged his entrance into the pitstop and veered into the wall, where his mechanics were waiting to pounce.

Shwartzman was forced to retire from the 200-lap race being held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as a result. The 25-year-old confirmed after his withdrawal that his front tyres had locked and brakes weren't responding, leaving him nothing more than a "passanger" in the still moving automobile.

Explaining the gaffe, Shwartzman told Fox: "I think I had a pretty decent start today, I was at the top. Then we had our first pit stop, we had an issue there. I lost a lot of time so I was at the back. Then I tried to battle my way through to the front, and then when it was yellow, I came in and my brakes felt very strange.

"Already, I was going slow coming into the pit lane, but I locked both front tyres which usually is not the case, so I wasn't sure if it was the brakes or the tyres were cold. When I came back into the pit I tried to be very slow, but as soon as I touched my brakes, my both front [tyres] just locked and I went straight into the guys."

He continued: "Luckily nobody was really injured, I think there was one guy who had an injury. I'm happy that everyone is fine, it was really scary because at the moment I braked I was just a passenger.

"We don't know yet what happened with the car. We'll have to have a look and understand if there was any mechanical issue. We have to work on it, it's just really sad because we did such a great job in qualifying."

It comes after a while sitting stationary in the pit lane. Alexander Rossi had to make a quick escape from is vehicle after it caught fire just after the halfway point of the race, with the American helped out of the motor by his panicked team.

Commenting on the incident, he said: "That's what's so painful about this place. You have to have so many things go right. It's just disappointing because it's another opportunity gone.

"I don't know the full details, all I know is the gearbox was starting to go in temperature a lot. I don't know if oil was starting to come out or what, but it was a gearbox issue."