Grey is the dominant colour at Indianapolis with grey skies, grey buildings and grey seats in the grandstands around the famous oval. At the moment, the grey is set to continue for the first day of practice, with rain predicted for Friday, although the weather is due to brighten up for the weekend.

Indy on Thursday is a spooky place, with not many people around. Indeed, the whole set up, in terms of paddock, pit lane and press office is so big that it manages to make Formula One look like a little Club race meeting. However, while the rest of the world claims it is getting bored with F1, now the championships are decided, ticket sales here suggest the Americans are as keen as ever. The crowd on race day is expected to be around the 150,000 mark, making it the biggest of the year.