IndyCar Preview: Grand Prix of Monterey

Credit: Joe Skibinski

Who's ready for some good ol' fashioned road course racing? Well, you are all in luck, as IndyCar closes out its manic month of July with a fifth race in four weeks as the series heads to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for the penultimate road course race of the season. With the drivers' championship effectively over, all 27 drivers are solely thinking race victories and with the chaos since the repave at the circuit two years ago, we could be in for a thriller in Monterey - Race 14 of 17 in the 2025 season.

What happened at Toronto?

O'Ward took Chevy's first Toronto win since 2019 | Credit: Julia Bissessar

The story of 2025 has all been about the dominance of Álex Palou and Honda. Coming into Toronto, Pato O'Ward took Chevrolet's only victory of the season at Iowa, with the marque still winless on road and street courses. That trend looked certain to continue as Honda locked out the front three in qualifying with Colton Herta, Palou and Marcus Armstrong but we were proved very, very wrong.

It was one of those classic chaotic IndyCar races, which featured multiple cautions, some strategy head-scratchers, some surprise names in victory contention and some excellent street course racing.

Despite starting 10th, there was an unbelievable internal confidence in O'Ward to claim a podium on his weakest circuit on the calendar based on previous results and he did not disappoint. Arrow McLaren and O'Ward rolled the strategy dice perfectly, with conveniently-timed yellows and some excellent decisive moves from O'Ward left him little opposition on his way to his second victory of the season.

His biggest challenger was Dale Coyne Racing's Rinus VeeKay who opted for the ambitious two-stop and was overcut by O'Ward in the final sequence of stops. VeeKay still came home in second for a surprise podium for the series' smallest teams. The feel-good podium would be rounded out by Kyffin Simpson who took a maiden podium in third.

Polesitter Herta finished fourth, unable to overtake Simpson due to a late yellow. Palou would start on the favoured primary tyre which proved to be a rare error as he lost all his ground through various cautions and had to settle for 12th - his second-worst result of the season.

FOX achieved 734,000 viewers for the race, which was the most-watched Toronto race since 2012.

You can read the full race report here, the DIVEBOMB IndyCar Podcast's race review here and my gradebook here.

Palou's run to a fourth IndyCar championship may remain slightly more in doubt than it did pre-Toronto, however it would still take a near-miracle for O'Ward to claim the championship from the Spaniard, especially considering that Palou heads to two of his favoured venues at Laguna Seca and Portland International Raceway. O'Ward's strong run of form in this chaotic stretch has opened up a comfortable gap to third in the standings, whilst Penske's disastrous season continues with Power the only driver in the top 10 in ninth. Top 10 in points are as follows:

Palou - 536

O'Ward - 437

Kirkwood - 363

Dixon - 362

Lundgaard - 317

Rosenqvist - 309

Armstrong - 283

Herta - 278

Power - 263

Malukas - 259

Remarkably, only the top four in points can still mathematically win the championship - with 216 points still up for grabs!

All you need to know about Laguna Seca

One of the most iconic corners in motorsport | Credit: James Black

IndyCar visits California for the third time this season following events at the Thermal Club and the Streets of Long Beach. The circuit has been hosting IndyCar racing since 1983, before dropping off the calendar between 2005 and 2018. It returned in 2019 before taking a one-year hiatus due to COVID-19 and has become a modern staple of the calendar. The circuit is only 2.238 miles (3.602 km) but is one of the trickiest of the season.

The pit straight is actually more of a pit bend, as drivers kink left downhill toward the tricky double-apexed Andretti hairpin. Drivers than climb uphill through the slow right-hander at Turn 3 and the medium-speed right-hander at Turn 4. Drivers continue to climb through Turn 5 before the very high-commitment, high-risk blind apex left-hander at Turn 6.

Turns 7 and 8 are the most famous on the calendar, as drivers lose 33 metres as the plunge downhill at the Corkscrew - the corner being particularly famous for a move that Alex Zanardi made on Bryan Herta in 1996. It's always a welcome spectacle to see cars race through the blind-apexed Corkscrew every season and provides one of the most picturesque photo stops of the year!

The lap is finished with a heavily on-camber corner at Turn 9 before an off-camber right-hander at Turn 10 before a tight hairpin at Turn 11 brings drivers back onto the pit straight.

Although Palou can't seal the IndyCar championship this weekend, a nine point gain over O'Ward in the next two races would win him a fourth title at Portland International Raceway. There couldn't be two tracks that represent much of a better chance for Palou, who is the defending winner at the circuit. He successfully held off the challenges of Herta and Kyle Kirkwood last season, despite losing the lead on the opening lap, but executed the strategy to perfection as he so regularly does.

Palou also won in 2022, the only victory he claimed in his only non-championship winning season with Chip Ganassi Racing. The Spaniard has never finished off the Laguna Seca podium in his career, after finishing second in 2021 and third in 2023.

However, in 'Herta's House,' Palou's victory may not be assured. Both Colton, and father Bryan have quite the reputation at their home circuit hence the nickname given. Bryan won in 1998 and 1999 and could well have won in 1996 if he wasn't caught out by Zanardi's famous move. Colton also has two victories at the circuit, in 2019 and 2021 and was runner-up to Palou last season.

The other active winner at the circuit is Scott Dixon who, as he always does in the chaotic races, found away to avoid the carnage and claim victory, when the circuit hosted the final race of the season. Dixon is just one of four drivers to win in 2025 alongside Palou, Kirkwood and O'Ward.

This will mark the first Laguna Seca race with the hybrid installed - with last year's race being the last event where the hybrid was not in use. Drivers will have a maximum of 150 seconds of push-to-pass with a maximum activation time of 15 seconds per activation. Sunday's race will consist of 95 laps over 212.61 miles (342.16 km).

What to look out for this weekend

Penske are the most successful team at Laguna Seca but have not won since 2000 | Credit: Joe Skibinski

Team Penske's disastrous 2025 season nears a new low as they head into Laguna Seca some 14 races winless since Scott McLaughlin won at Milwaukee last season. The team have had 14 retirements in 13 races this season after once again the team had no cars in the top 10 at Toronto.

Their longest winless streak in recent times was a 15 race drought between 2007 and 2008 and if the team do not find Victory Lane at Laguna Seca, that streak will be matched. The team are also shockingly heading toward their first winless season since 1999 if they do not win in any of the remaining four races of 2025.

Although winless since the track returned in 2019, the team have claimed second-place finishes in 2019, 2022 and 2024 with a further three top five finishes. Will Power also claimed his last road/street pole position at the circuit in 2022.

Palou's championship lead now stands at 99 over O'Ward, after the Mexican closed the gap by 30 points during the Toronto weekend. To win the title, O'Ward will have to outscore Palou by an average of 25 points a round. If Palou finishes in the top five in each race, which he has done on all but three occasions this season, he will win the championship, no matter what O'Ward can do in the final few races.

As mentioned, this is one of Palou's strongest tracks of the season. He's never finished off the podium at Laguna Seca and has taken several dominant victories on the past. O'Ward's best result in the California desert is fifth in 2021, but has not finished outside the top 10 since. A similar result for the pair based on previous form would all but officially seal the title for Palou.

Herta is still winless in 2025 with Toronto feeling like the race that that statistic should have turned around. However, this represents a great chance for Herta too based on his previous successes at the circuit. Although results may not have gone his way, Herta's form on road/street has improved greatly since the Indianapolis 500 and this may be his best shot at winning for the remainder of the season.

Kirkwood is also one to watch too. He was very impressive here last season and was unfortunate to miss out on the podium and has generally had the upper edge over his teammate on road and street courses this season.

Christian Lundgaard's inconsistency has let him down at points this season, particularly at Toronto, but this poses a great chance to bounce back for the Danish driver. Lundgaard has showed very well on the majority of road courses this season, although has struggled for execution in recent races. Historically, this has been a better track for Lundgaard than it has been O'Ward which has been an interesting dynamic throughout the season.

Meyer Shank Racing have heavily impressed this season with Felix Rosenqvist and Marcus Armstrong sixth and seventh in points respectively. Rosenqvist has claimed two top fives and the team have been generally strong on road courses and could be a surprise factor in this weekend's events.

As an outside bet, I'd keep an eye on Alexander Rossi. The Californian driver has only finished outside the top 10 once at the Californian circuit and ran in the podium positions for the majority of the race last year. It has been a difficult stretch of races for Rossi and this could be a chance to turn things around.

Santino Ferrucci is also set to return after his warm-up crash in Toronto and will be looking to repeat his top 10 finish that he achieved at the circuit last season.

In the Rookie of the Year battle, Robert Shwartzman and Louis Foster are now level on points, with Shwartzman ahead on countback. Foster has qualified superbly on road courses this season, reaching the Fast Six in each of the last three road courses races, but has struggled for execution. On the other side of things, PREMA have generally struggled for road course pace but have improved as the season has gone on. Foster celebrates his 22nd birthday on Sunday so a strong result would be a very welcome present.

Timings

Practice 1: 14:00 PT (22:00 BST) Friday

Practice 2: 08:30 PT (16:30 BST) Saturday

Qualifying: 11:35 PT (19:35 BST) Saturday

Warm-up: 09:02 PT (17:02 BST) Sunday

Race: 12:22 PT (20:22 BST) Sunday

DIVEBOMB will bring you all the news and updates throughout the weekend as well as post-race analysis. Can Penske's winless season finally turn around? Can Palou effectively seal a fourth title? Can Herta reign supreme in his house? There's plenty to look out for at Laguna Seca.