The Associated Press covers the biggest day in motorsports, from Formula One’s Monaco Grand Prix to the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600. The latest from the tracks:
2:40p.m. (1240 GMT)
Drivers communicate with their team engineers throughout the race weekend over radio, and it sometimes makes for some colorful conversations under the stress of racing.
Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen told his former Lotus team to leave him alone when they gave him advice, and this season Nico Rosberg barked at his Mercedes crew after just missing out on pole position in qualifying.
Conversations have been polite so far at the Monaco GP, with Lewis Hamilton politely asking ”What can I do to save those brakes, I’, having to drive so slow right now” and Rosberg’s race crew urging him to close the gap on Hamilton as he started to drift further behind.
With 25 of 78 laps raced, Rosberg was five seconds behind Hamilton, with both yet to take their pit stops.
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8:30 a.m. ET
With the F1 race nearing the halfway point, across the Atlantic (and then some), the parade of marching bands has started in front of the famed pagoda at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the start of a morning’s worth of festivities leading up to the Indianapolis 500.
Traffic jams are already snaking for miles around the famous oval. The smell of barbecue mingling with hash browns and breakfast sausages is wafting through Gasoline Alley. Fans already are sitting in the metal bleachers in anticipation of the 99th running of the race.
Scott Dixon will be on the pole. Will Power could be the one to beat. Helio Castroneves will again try to join the club of four-time winners after coming oh-so-close a year ago, while Marco Andretti will once again be trying to end the almost mythic ”Andretti Curse.”
Everyone will be trying to keep four tires on the track after a series of spectacular wrecks in the days leading up to the race, one of them landing James Hinchcliffe in the hospital.
– Dave Skretta reporting from Indianapolis.
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2:20 p.m. (1220 GMT)
McLaren got off to a poor start at the Monaco Grand Prix with Fernando Alonso given a five-second penalty for nudging Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India into the barriers.
It has been a terrible season for McLaren so far, with no points from the first five races, and this latest incident came at the Mirabeau turn as Alonso tried to make his way through heavy traffic.
Hulkenberg was able to continue after taking a pit stop to change his front wing, and Alonso will have to serve the time penalty when he enters the pits.
Meanwhile, the race ended early for Venezuelan driver Pastor Maldonado as the brakes failed on his Lotus.
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2:10 p.m. (1210 GMT)
Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton made a clean start from pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix, holding off Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg.
It’s a relief for Hamilton, who was starting from pole for the first time in Monaco and was coming off a poor start at the Spanish GP two weeks ago.
Rosberg, meanwhile, held his spot well under pressure from Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel, who started from third on the grid and tried to squeeze past him.
Sparks flew behind them as the two Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat jostled aggressively for position.
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1:45 p.m. (1145 GMT)
There’s a simple reason why Lewis Hamilton is the favorite for this year’s Monaco Grand Prix, aside from the fact that he’s the F1 championship leader: he’s in pole position.
The tight, sinewy nature of Monaco’s 3.34-kilometer (2.07-mile) street circuit makes it extremely difficult to overtake, and the past six winners and nine of the past 10 have won from pole.
That means Hamilton has a good chance to earn his fourth win of the season and extend his 20-point lead over Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg.
Rosberg closed the gap somewhat at the Spanish GP two weeks ago, when he ended a run of just one win in 15 races.
But the momentum is still very much with Hamilton, who recently signed a new three-year deal with Mercedes.
His remarkable consistency has seen him reach the podium in 21 of the past 24 races since the beginning of last season, with 14 wins, five second-place finishes and two third places.
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1:30 p.m. (1130 GMT)
With the Cannes Film Festival a short drive away, celebrity spotting has always been easy at the Monaco Grand Prix.
In the 1960s, it was film stars like Swedish actress Britt Ekland and British actor Peter Sellers who turned up. In more recent years, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio have all attended the glamorous event.
This year, Michael Fassbender was spotted shortly before Sunday’s race, while Real Madrid’s soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo turned up with British fashion model Cara Delevingne.
While Ronaldo chatted with Formula One driver Fernando Alonso – who is a huge soccer fan – in the pit lane, Delevingne sat on a McLaren car wheel.
Liam Payne of pop band One Direction was also seen strolling around the paddock area, and former world ski champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany also attended.
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12:50 p.m. (1050 GMT)
Glitz and glamour are part of any Formula One race, but never more so than at the Monaco Grand Prix, its showcase event where movie stars bump shoulders with royalty and sports celebrities – and hopefully take in some top-class racing as well.
As always, fans have flocked to the picturesque principality to soak up the atmosphere at the most unique event in F1, a street-circuit race which sees drivers go past the Monte Carlo casino, famous boutiques and some of the most expensive real estate in the world.
Raucous crowds gather around the glittering harbor, while others prefer to seek a good vantage point in the surrounding hills perched just underneath Prince Albert’s huge palace.
More privileged spectators have a free view while drinking champagne on their luxury yachts.
In this rich playground, it’s a case of the haves and the have yachts.
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