Coulthard's fifth-place finish in the Grand Prix eliminated any mathematical chance of winning the Drivers' Championship, reducing his advantage over fourth-placed Barrichello to eight points.

[9] There were eleven teams of two drivers (each representing a different constructor), and all but one had never raced at Indianapolis, with no changes to the season entry list.

It was ended because of low attendance at its old venue in Phoenix, Arizona and it was replaced by the South African Grand Prix in the 1992 season.

[6][26][27] Häkkinen called the track "great, really enjoyable to drive and quite difficult in some parts",[28] and Michael Schumacher said he did not find it hard to adapt to the circuit.

[30] Bridgestone created the extra hard tyre compound to help drivers cope with the additional demands of the Indianapolis road course.

[6][31][32] The company and the FIA agreed to provide teams with two extra sets of tyres for Friday's two free practice sessions in order to collect additional data and ensure that drivers were better acclimatised to the circuit.

Arrows' car used a low-downforce layout similar to that seen at the Italian Grand Prix to gain speed on the main straight.

[37] All drivers entered the circuit to familiarise themselves with it, with lap times gradually decreasing,[38][39] which were around two seconds slower than predicted by computer simulations.

Button, Villeneuve, Benetton's Alexander Wurz, the Jordan duo of Trulli and Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Irvine and Prost's Nick Heidfeld were in fourth through tenth.

[42][43] Michael Schumacher and Barrichello fell to third and fourth fastest, respectively, after failing to better their lap times, even though both drivers expressed satisfaction with their performance.

Herbert crashed, losing control of his Jaguar when braking and veering left into the outside turn one tyre barrier, damaging his car's left-rear wheel and ending his practice early.

[45][46] The Saturday morning sessions were run in cloudy conditions on a damp track with patches of standing water from overnight rain, resulting in minimal grip and some drivers going off the circuit.

[6] Michael Schumacher adjusted his rear wing angle and went out of teammate Barrichello's slipstream to drive quicker on the main straight into turn one after the latter aborted a run,[6][7][56][57] fearful that McLaren may lap faster despite their MP4/15 cars having more downforce.

Ralf Schumacher, tenth, had car setup issues that compromised handling, and he spun onto the turn eight grass on his fourth attempt.

[57][61][66] Fisichella, 15th,[65] said understeer and poor grip prevented him from lapping faster but Benetton team principal Flavio Briatore blamed the driver for his performance.

[50][61] Arrows' Pedro de la Rosa took 18th after an error on his final quick lap and nearly collided with a Jaguar on a previous run.

[66] A 30-minute warm-up session was held on the morning of the race in cool, damp, and  overcast weather following heavy overnight rain, with poor grip and many drivers going off the track onto the grass.

[74][75] The FIA safety delegate, Charlie Whiting, moved the grid's front row back 8 ft (2.4 m) the previous night after concerns were raised by Coulthard and Michael Schumacher who experienced wheelspin while crossing the "Yard of Bricks" laid in the track, which stretched from its outside edge to the pit lane.

[57][75][85] Barrichello was the first of the frontrunners to make a pit stop at the end of the same lap, while Irvine lost eleventh to De La Rosa.

[79] Häkkinen was let through into second place by teammate Coulthard,[84] who entered the pit lane and prompted numerous cars to switch to dry tyres on lap seven, including Ralf Schumacher, Zonta, Verstappen, Irvine, and Wurz.

[59] Mazzacane, who had decided to stay on wet-weather tyres, began battling Häkkinen's attempts to overtake him on lap 13, losing the latter around 13 seconds while Ralf Schumacher passed Diniz for sixth.

[57][85] Trulli's mechanics did not have the correct tyres ready for his pit stop on the same lap, and the left-rear wheel nut did not appear to be replaced.

He ran into a puddle entering the pit lane, and a wheelchanger dropped his wheel gun on Herbert's front wing, which had to be replaced.

[59] Coulthard continued to gain positions, passing de la Rosa for seventh on lap 37 after a previous attempt at turn one failed.

[86] By the end of lap 55, after the scheduled pit stops, the order was Michael Schumacher, Barrichello, Frentzen, Villeneuve, Coulthard and Diniz.

[57][75] Ralf Schumacher retired from the race due to his pneumatic valve system fault, prompting Williams to switch off the engine to prevent damage two laps later.

[75] Alesi became the race's final retirement when his engine failed, causing him to spin backwards at turn eight on the following lap, almost being hit by his teammate Heidfeld.

[82][84][85] Three laps later, Michael Schumacher spun 270 degrees after landing his right-front wheel on the damp grass at turn nine's hairpin due to a lack of focus.

He also stated that, despite having an advantage on the wet track, he had struggled with significant oversteer and maintaining his car on a high fuel load after his pit stop.

[101] As a result of the race, Michael Schumacher reclaimed the lead in the World Drivers' Championship, with 88 points, for the second time in the 2000 season.