Palou takes maiden Indy 500 win amid historic run of form
- Morgan Holiday
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Written by Morgan Holiday
An unstoppable Álex Palou took his first Indy 500 victory at the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 amidst triumph and heartbreak throughout the grid. Marcus Ericsson took second place for Andretti Global and it was A.J. Foyt Racing's David Malukas who completed the podium.
But it wasn't a foregone conclusion that Palou would win, as drama throughout the race saw many retirements and many potential victors.
How it happened
Rain on the track delayed the start of the race from 12:45pm ET. After the brief rain at Turn 4 cleared up, the command to start engines was given at 13:21pm ET.
The drama began before the Green flag could even fly, as Scott McLaughlin's No.3 Team Penske car lost control as he was trying to warm up his tyres. He hit the barriers and then went off into pit lane, ending his day before it began.
More trouble came for Scott Dixon, as his brakes overheated and caught on fire during the pace laps. The second Scott to experience trouble, however, was able to continue going and cool his brakes down as McLaughlin's car was cleared.
Finally the Indianapolis began, but the green flag ran for less than a lap before Marco Andretti ran into trouble at the back, spinning and hitting the wall. Marcus Armstrong narrowly avoided running straight into him, and the race was under caution yet again.
Racing began again on Lap 9, and Pato O'Ward took the lead from polesitter Robert Schwartzman going into Turn 1. Two laps later, the rookie Shwartzman had also been passed by Takuma Sato and Felix Rosenqvist. Sato passed O'Ward for first place and held it.
The big gainers early on were Colton Herta and Josef Newgarden, both drivers jumping up six places in the opening laps from their starting places near the back.
On Lap 19 the caution came out yet again, this time for light rain on the track, bringing the number of total cautions in the race so far to three - a step up from the combined two cautions IndyCar had seen all season up until this point.
Arrow McLaren's Christian Lundgaard suffered a puncture to his right front tyre during the caution but was able to pit for a new set during the first flurry of pit stops. His one-off teammate Kyle Larson's pit stop was less than ideal as he stalled trying to exit his pit box and he dropped from 19th to last place.
After a number of drivers cycled through the pits, Alex Rossi was leading Christian Rasmussen and Ed Carpenter at the front of the field.
On Lap 30, Dixon came into the pits for a repair to his brakes after his early trouble with overheating and came out three laps down from the leaders. Meanwhile, the rest of the field was ready to go back to green.
Rasmussen took the lead from Rossi at the restart, as further down the field Santino Ferrucci made up places. The Ed Carpenter Racing teammates traded first place back and forth throughout the next few laps. Both of them pit on Lap 43, giving the lead to their other teammate, Carpenter himself.
Carpenter pit a lap later and it was Jack Harvey who took the lead. The three ECR cars came out in 27th, 28th, and 29th.
On the move was Juncos Hollinger Racing's Conor Daly, who had been steadily making up ground before he passed David Malukas for fourth place on the track and posted the fastest lap of the day so far with a speed of 223.783 mph.
Newgarden was also still making up ground from where he started at the back of the field, up from 32nd to 14th in the first 50 laps of the race.
Sato cycled up steadily back into the lead of the race, holding his own in his fight for a third Indy 500 victory. On Lap 61 a majority of the cars came in for another pit stop, Andretti Global teammates Kyle Kirkwood and Herta inheriting the lead before pitting themselves a lap later.
A.J. Foyt Racing's David Malukas came up into second behind Sato as Herta received a penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Rossi's car began smoking on Lap 72 and was called into the pits from where he was running in fourth. As the team began examining his car he was told to shut the engine off before the car quickly caught fire and he had to abandon ship as the team extinguished the flames.
On Lap 80, Sato was still holding the lead from Malukas and Álex Palou. Newgarden's progression throughout the field continued and he made his way up 22 places to tenth, just five seconds off the lead. Two laps later the next caution came out as Rinus VeeKay spun on his way into the pits after an issue with his back left tyre. He retired from the race as a result after he hit the barrier. The top three held their positions with Daly and Ferrucci running fourth and fifth.
During the caution as drivers came into the pits, the top two starting drivers Shwartzman and Sato both had issues. Sato pulled in too far and had to be dragged back into his box, while the rookie also came in too hot and hit the wall and a member of his pit crew. He retired from the race as a result, a disappointing end for the rookie who stunned in qualifying last weekend.
After the kerfuffle in the pits, Ryan Hunter-Reay was out in the lead of the race ahead of Devlin DeFrancesco and Carpenter.
The remaining drivers in the race went back to green on Lap 92, and Malukas jumped up to fourth while drama at the back saw Larson, Kyffin Simpson and Sting Ray Robb out of the race after they all made contact.
At the halfway point, the race was still under caution, with only 25 drivers still in the running. The green flag didn't wave again until Lap 107, with DeFrancesco leading Harvey and Malukas, and then only for a few moments before the caution began again as Rasmussen had a big wiggle that almost resulted in him spinning out.
They went again two laps later, DeFrancesco holding the lead as the drivers behind him went four wide into Turn 1. Daly took second, Malukas staying in third. Newgarden gained another place and went up to ninth.
The top drivers held position for the next few laps, until Lap 122 when DeFrancesco pitted and Daly inherited the lead. With 67 laps to go, Daly and Sato, among others, made pit stops. Daly came out 11th.
When another set of drivers came to pit a lap later, disaster struck for Newgarden as fuel pressure problems forced him to retire his No.2 Penske car from the race, heartbreak for the driver attempting to go three in a row with another Indy 500 victory.
Meanwhile there was a battle for the net lead between Malukas, Palou and Daly, Daly eventually coming out on top in that battle. Rookie driver Louis Foster, attempting to un-lap himself, put his car between Palou and Daly and Malukas.
With 40 laps to go, Hunter-Reay was leading Daly and Malukas in a rare stretch of caution-less racing. Meanwhile, Harvey, down in 23rd, picked up a penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
Daly made a pit stop with 34 laps to go after struggling on his tyres, but it was earlier than the team wanted to bring him in based on fuel strategy. He came out 16th. Palou pitted a lap later and came out in eighth, followed by Hunter-Reay who stalled in the pits.
Malukas, on the other hand, had a smooth final pit stop with 30 laps to go, coming out ahead of Palou. O'Ward, who had spent most of the race hanging in the middle of the pack, passed a yet-to-pit DeFrancesco to take fifth behind Palou. Marcus Ericsson also entered the mix of the top four - himself, Palou, Malukas and O'Ward.
With 14 laps to go Palou made the overtake on Ericsson, getting the move done and taking the lead of the race. Malukas close behind looked to do the same, but struggled to get around the Andretti driver.
The top five held their positions for the final laps, no one able to make a pass. Ericsson was unable to the pass and the caution came out after the final corner as Nolan Siegel went into the wall and Palou secured his first Indianapolis 500 victory over Ericsson and Malukas.
O'Ward secured fourth place and his former teammate Rosenqvist completed the top five. Kirkwood finished sixth ahead of Ferrucci, Rasmussen, Lundgaard and Daly. Sato, who started second on the grid, just missed out on a top ten finish in his 16th Indy 500.
