Palou plays patience game to win Grand Prix of Indianapolis

Written by Morgan Holiday

Credit: Dominic Loyer

Álex Palou put on yet another incredible drive to win his fourth race of 2025 after spending most of the race behind Graham Rahal. Palou took victory at the IMS Road Course over Pato O'Ward and Will Power.

How it happened

Trouble started before the race for Chip Ganassi Racing's Kyffin Simpson, who was unable to get the car in gear ahead of the start. Josef Newgarden also suffered a setback before the race, an issue with his radio causing him to take a quick trip to pit lane before the green flag.

As a result, Newgarden moved from the sixth place spot he earned in Qualifying down to the back of the grid.

Palou took pole position in Qualifying on Friday ahead of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing duo of Rahal and rookie Louis Foster. Those three drivers led the field to green for Saturday's race.

It was Rahal who took the lead from Palou heading into Turn 1 as the field kept it clean through the first few corners of the track. But the peace didn't last for long as contact between Newgarden and Callum Ilott in the back resulted in a spin for Ilott. Colton Herta also suffered minor front wing damage that led to him coming into the pits for a new one.

Credit: Dominic Loyer

RLL's Devlin DeFrancesco, who qualified fifth, came through to pass Foster and Scott McLaughlin, taking third place early on in the race. Further back, Marcus Ericsson continued the streak of tough luck for Andretti Global as he spun on Lap 8 after a drive train issue and was forced to pit. After the team evaluated his car, he retired from the race.

Scott McLaughlin managed to pass Foster for fourth, before the rookie was also passed by O'Ward on Lap 17. Foster, struggling with the alternate tyres, came into the pits a lap later for a set of hards.

As drivers began to make their first regularly scheduled pit stops, Christian Lundgaard managed to undercut Alex Rossi for 15th place.

Lundgaard and Foster battled for position and made contact but avoided major incident, as Rossi swooped in to capitalise on the battle.

Rahal had managed to pull a comfortable lead from Palou, and the Spanish driver pit first, putting on the hard tyres. Rahal also put on the hard tyres a lap later, coming out still in the net lead ahead of Palou. Marcus Armstrong led the race briefly before pitting and allowing Rahal to resume running at the front.

More contact came not long after, this time between Felix Rosenqvist and Rinus VeeKay that resulted in a spin for Rosenqvist. As the former Arrow McLaren driver dropped down the pack as a result of his spin, the current McLaren trio were all on the move - O'Ward up to fifth from eighth, Lundgaard up to eighth from 14th, and Nolan Siegel up to 15th from 18th.

A drive-through penalty for Lundgaard after a pit infraction would put an end to that run, dropping him back down towards the end of the pack.

By Lap 36 the leading pair had pulled over a two second gap to McLaughlin in third, the Team Penske driver in turn with over a two second gap to DeFrancesco.

On Lap 41 McLaughlin pit from third, putting on the hard tyres and coming out in tenth place. On the following lap, Rahal and Palou came in together, coming out in the same order they came in.

DeFrancesco, pitting a few laps later, stalled in pit lane and dropped down to 11th. Meanwhile, Herta was working hard to un-lap himself, putting his No.26 Andretti between Palou and McLaughlin before passing Palou as well. On Lap 45 Herta made it past Rahal to get back on the lead lap after his disastrous race start.

The race settled down, and it wasn't until Lap 59/85 when the battle between Rahal and Palou came to a head. Palou finally took the lead of the race going into Turn 7, and within a lap or so was over two seconds ahead of the RLL driver on his new set of hard tyres.

Credit: Dominic Loyer

Now with Palou ahead of him, Rahal came under pressure from McLaughlin before making his final pit stop for new hard tyres on Lap 63. He was delayed in coming out of the pits as Kyle Kirkwood was coming in, costing him valuable time and a chance at finishing on the podium.

As McLaughlin made his final pit stop as well, Will Power and Scott Dixon cycled up to second and third behind Palou.

Over the next few laps, Palou extended his lead to over eight seconds over O'Ward and Power. And then, a rare caution in 2025 was thrown as David Malukas went off and stopped in the grass after losing power with 16 laps to go.

The field went back to green with 14 laps left, Dixon getting Rahal for fifth on the restart. As the laps ticked down, Palou led O'Ward, Power, McLaughlin and Dixon, the latter up 11 spots after starting 16th.

Foster, who had earlier been enjoying his best IndyCar weekend to date, was overtaken by Rosenqvist in the final minutes of the race.

But of course it was Palou, taking yet another dominant win in 2025, this time conquering the IMS Road Course. O'Ward and Power completed the podium ahead of McLaughlin and Dixon.

Just outside the top five was Rahal, a disappointing result for the driver who led most of the race. Armstrong came through from 15th to finish seventh, and Kirkwood, VeeKay and Rosenqvist completed the top ten, rounding out an exciting day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.