Winners and Losers: Grand Prix of Indianapolis

Written by Morgan Holiday

Credit: Dominic Loyer

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course was host to plenty of excitement this past weekend - a battle for the lead, mechanical failures and even, at one point, a caution.

None of it could stop the brilliant Álex Palou from coming through to win his fourth race of the season and extend his championship lead. But in the midst of his historic run of form, who can walk away from their weekend happy, and who will be disappointed? DIVEBOMB takes a look at the winners and losers from the 2025 IndyCar Grand Prix of Indianapolis.

Winner - Kyle Kirkwood

The Grand Prix of Indianapolis saw a second consecutive run of tough luck for the Andretti Global team. After Colton Herta, Kyle Kirkwood and Marcus Ericsson finished seventh, 11th and 20th respectively at Barber, all three drivers failed to make it into the Fast 12 at the IMS Road Course.

Herta was the best qualifier for the team at IMS this past weekend in 13th, as Ericsson’s tenth place in Group 2 and Kirkwood’s 11th place in Group 1 put the pair down the grid in 20th and 21st respectively.

The start of Saturday’s race saw trouble for the two higher-starting Andretti cars, as Herta had front wing damage that put him a lap down and eventually retired from the race and a drive train issue for Ericsson saw him out of the car on Lap 8.

Kirkwood, on the other hand, made his way up from 21st on the grid to an eventual eighth place finish, not only a bright spot in another rough weekend for Andretti but a result that puts the American driver second in the championship. Sure, he’s 97 points off Palou but who’s counting?

Winner - Rinus VeeKay

Credit: Dominic Loyer

VeeKay makes it into the winners column for a second race in a row after one-upping Kirkwood’s recovery drive at the IMS Road Course.

At Barber, VeeKay started fifth and finished fourth in one of his best IndyCar drives to date. This past weekend at IMS, the Dutch driver’s weekend told a slightly different story.

VeeKay finished 26th in Practice 1 and 15th in Practice 2 before getting knocked out in the first round of Qualifying. A 12th place in his first session put him 24th at the start.

In the race he grabbed the title of Biggest Mover of the day, gaining 15 places on his way to finish ninth, his third top-ten result of the season. The result also bumped him up to tenth place in the standings, just four points behind Herta coming into the biggest race of the year.

Whereas at Barber VeeKay proved he could stay in a fight at the front throughout a full race, he proved at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis that he can come through the pack to recover from a tough Qualifying result as well. And while no driver wants to qualify low enough to climb through most of the field on race day, VeeKay can certainly see this weekend as a win.

Winner - Pato O’Ward

Credit: Dominic Loyer

In an unexpected turn of events, O’Ward has spent much of the 2025 season so far playing catch-up to his new teammate, Christian Lundgaard.

Lundgaard’s three consecutive podiums have put him just one point behind Kirkwood in the standings, as O’Ward sits down in fourth. The Mexican driver had previously only achieved one podium so far this year, a second-place result at Thermal.

At the IMS Road Course O’Ward proved that, even with Lundgaard’s performance so far, he can still be the top dog at Arrow McLaren. While neither Lundgaard nor Nolan Siegel managed to get into the Fast 12, O’Ward qualified eighth to give the team one car starting in the top ten.

In the race on Saturday O’Ward made steady progress, climbing up throughout the mostly green running to secure his second podium of the season. He finished behind Palou in second, making up good ground to Lundgaard in the standings as his Danish teammate finished down in 16th.

Loser - Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Credit: Dominic Loyer

RLL is known for their strong performances at the IMS Road Course, a track they always seem to find an extra boost of speed at. As a result, it was only a little surprising to find all three of their drivers in the Fast 6, their team making up half of the final Qualifying session.

It was an excellent Friday for RLL, Graham Rahal qualifying second and rookie Louis Foster with his best ever qualifying result in third. Devlin DeFrancesco finished the session in fifth, rounding out what looked to be a promising start to the weekend.

The race started well for team, Rahal passing Palou at the first corner and holding the lead for the majority of the race. Foster lost positions to Scott McLaughlin and his teammate DeFrancesco in the early laps but held on to the top five, and DeFrancesco came through to hold the final podium place for a while.

But it wasn’t to be for the RLL team as Rahal lost the lead to Palou on Lap 59, and then a botched pit stop put him even further down the order to sixth at the end of the day. Foster missed out on the top ten in the end, although he still recorded his best IndyCar finish to date in 11th.

DeFrancesco also was knocked out of contention for either a podium or a top ten finish, after stalling in the pit lane in the middle of the race he dropped down to an eventual, disappointing 17th.

From having all three drivers in the top six to only having one driver finish in the top six is a dismal end to what could have been a historic weekend for RLL at a track they favour heavily.

Loser - Kyffin Simpson

Credit: Dominic Loyer

Simpson’s weekend is another case of wondering what could have been, as the Chip Ganassi Racing driver didn’t even manage to take the green flag at the start of the race.

Simpson has been seemingly improving on his rookie year with GCR, recording his first top ten finish earlier in 2025 at the Long Beach Grand Prix. 

Last time out at Barber he qualified tenth, a record high for the Caymanian driver. He equalled that result again at the IMS Road Course this past weekend, yet again out-qualifying his teammate Scott Dixon, one of the most experienced drivers in the series.

But the Grand Prix of Indianapolis was also the second weekend in a row where Simpson’s race result was not reflective of his qualifying pace. At Barber he slipped down to a 21st place finish after starting tenth. And in Indianapolis, a gearbox failure stopped him from ever getting the car in gear before the start.

Simpson’s disappointing weekend is no fault of his own, but the fact that he’s been unable to capitalise on his second tenth place start in IndyCar makes this weekend a loss for the CGR driver.

Loser - David Malukas

Malukas has had a rocky start to 2025 with A.J. Foyt Racing, his best result coming at the first race of the year when he finished 13th at St. Pete. The Grand Prix of Indianapolis marks his worst result of the year so far, both in Qualifying and the race.

After two Fast 12 appearances at Thermal and Long Beach, Malukas qualified 20th in Barber and second to last in 26th at the IMS Road Course. 

In the race on Saturday he made up a little ground and was running in 17th with 16 laps to go when he lost power and stopped in the grass. The issue ended his day and he was classified 23rd.

What was a devastating result for Malukas was the most exciting event of the race for most viewers, as his retirement brought out the first caution in an IndyCar race since the first laps of the season opener, ending a historic streak of green flag running for the series.

Of course, that won’t be much consolation for Malukas as he walks away from his worst result of the season.

All photos in this article were taken by DIVEBOMB Photographer, Dominic Loyer. You can find Dominic's work on Instagram (@dominicloyer_photography)