Sunday, October 4, 2026

Final Indy 500-Monaco Weekend Coined 2 First-Time Winners

The Indy 500 and Monaco Grand Prix will no longer be held on the same weekend in 2026.

Stephanie Lecocq/Reuters via Imagn Images

Want more from Front Office Sports
in your search results?

Add Front Office Sports on Google

The Indy 500 and Monaco Grand Prix shared the same weekend for the final time—and two former teammates stood on the top of their respective podiums for the first time.

McLaren’s Lando Norris took home the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday morning. Norris’s win and teammate Oscar Piastri’s third-place finish helped Team Papaya extend their constructors’ championship lead to 172. That lead is larger than the total point count accumulated by second-place Mercedes, which failed to score Sunday.

Norris also cut Piastri’s lead in the constructors’ championship to three points.

Hours later, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Álex Palou, McLaren’s 2023 reserve driver, won the Indy 500, two years after he took home pole position at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Palou has won three of the last four IndyCar drivers’ championships and sits at No. 1 this year.

The two races will no longer be on the same weekend starting in 2026, as the Monaco GP will be moved to the first full weekend in June.

Failed Double

For the second year in a row, Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson failed to complete The Double—which is when drivers finish both the Indy 500 and NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte on the same day, a total of 1,100 miles.

After the weather halted his attempt last year, crashes stopped him this year. Larson crashed on Lap 91 at the Indy 500 and Lap 246 of the Coca-Cola 600.

It may be Larson’s final time to attempt The Double, and he told Front Office Sports Today on Friday that he had initially planned a two-year window to attempt the historic feat.

“The Double is a tough undertaking,” Larson said Sunday. “The window of time is just too tight.”

Monaco Misses Again

F1 enforced a rule at the Monaco GP that required teams to make two tire changes—one more than the usual race—in an effort to spice up what’s been a lackluster race in recent years. But it didn’t do much.

A year after the race featured just four overtakes, there was only one legal overtake in the 2025 Monaco GP, according to ESPN. The race, which has been renewed by F1 until 2031, was criticized by most drivers, including four-time World Champion Max Verstappen.

“You can’t race here anyway, so it doesn’t matter what you do. One stop, 10 stops. Even at the end, I was in the lead, but my tires were completely gone, and you still can’t pass. We were almost doing Mario Kart,” Verstappen said.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was one of the leaders calling for changes in the track’s layout.

“The cars are so big now that you just don’t have a chance to get alongside. … There just needs to be one area where you can have an overtake and everybody knows that coming here the race was pretty much done on Saturday,” Horner said.

Download the FOS App

The business of sports, in your pocket.

QR code to download the app

Scan the QR code to get the app now.

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

Formula One F1 - Hungarian Grand Prix - Hungaroring, Budapest, Hungary - July 26, 2026 Red Bull's Isack Hadjar in action during the race REUTERS/Marton Monus

F1 Will Shift Season Finale to Europe if Middle East War Continues

F1 also confirmed that the final race will not be in the U.S.

Amazon’s NASCAR Viewership Sees Slight Uptick in Second Season

Races on Prime Video averaged 2.29 million viewers this year.
Feb 11, 2026; Daytona Beach, Florida, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Jimmie Johnson (84) during qualifying for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images
Exclusive

Jimmie Johnson Joining TNT as NASCAR Analyst

Johnson will make his TNT debut on June 28.
podcast thumbnail mobile
Front Office Sports Today

A Conversation with Randy Levine on the Yankees’ $2.6B Apollo Deal and the Protect College Sports Act

0:00

Featured Today

Oct 4, 2025; Tempe, AZ, USA; General action during the first period of the game between the Arizona State Sun Devils and the Penn State Nittany Lions at Mullett Arena

How Military-Style Workouts in College Sports Get Dangerous

For elite athletes, high-intensity training can be “very appealing.”
September 6, 2026

Is Carolyn Tisch Blodgett the Future Face of Giants Ownership?

Amid changes at top of Giants ownership, eyes are on Tisch Blodgett.
September 4, 2026

Wild Transfer Window Shows How Premier League Towers Over Soccer

Spending in England vastly outstripped the rest of Europe.
September 3, 2026

Teams Are Spending Millions to Build Luxury Locker Rooms

It’s a recruiting pitch, a retention tool, and a seven-figure line item.
September 1, 2026

High School Football Sidelines Are Clogged With Content Creators

Administrators call these amateur newcomers the “pajama paparazzi.”
Adam Silver, NBA commissioner, attends the annual Allen and Co. Sun Valley Media and Technology Conference at the Sun Valley Resort in Sun Valley, Idaho, U.S., July 7, 2026.

Clippers Controversy Hangs Over NBA Board of Governors Meeting

Adam Silver is expected to hold a press conference Tuesday.
Tennis - U.S. Open - Flushing Meadows, New York, United States - September 12, 2026 Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka enters the court ahead of her final match against Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters/Geoff Burke
September 14, 2026

Top Tennis Players Pause Public Battle With Grand Slams

It’s not clear which players will be part of the new council.
September 14, 2026

NFL Kickoff Ratings Dip on Wednesday

Viewership surprisingly fell for the NFL’s season opener.
Sponsored

Drew Weatherford’s Bet on the Youth Sports Economy

Drew Weatherford discusses investing across the youth, college and professional levels.
September 14, 2026

NFL Gets Explosive Sunday of Scoring After Sluggish Start

Teams put up 791 points, tying the high mark from 2012.
September 13, 2026

Zverev Beats Shelton as American Men’s Grand Slam Drought Continues

Zverev won the US Open for his second Grand Slam of 2026.
September 13, 2026

Brewers, Rays Make Playoffs, Complicating MLB Labor Fight

The Brewers and Rays both have below-average payrolls.
Tennis - U.S. Open - Flushing Meadows, New York, United States - September 9, 2026 Spain's Carlos Alcaraz fells during his quarter-final match against Ben Shelton of the U.S. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
September 12, 2026

No Quick Fixes Coming for US Open’s Late Nights

While Wimbledon has a curfew, the other three majors don’t want one.