Alex Palou took his first oval and Indy 500 victory after a chaotic race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
200 gruelling laps at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway awaited the 33 car field at the 2025 Indy 500. The 109th running of the race, several stories were waiting to reach their crescendo conclusion.
Robert Schwartzman started on pole position, the first rookie starter since 1983. Could he navigate the perils of the race?
Team Penske endured a nightmare qualifying with two of its three cars relegated to the back row. Will Power and Josef Newgarden faced an uphill battle to climb their way up the field. The third car of Scott McLaughlin started out of the top ten, and on paper at least, was the best chance of a Team Penske win.
Alex Palou’s crushing domination of the IndyCar season came to an end during Indy 500 qualifying. Starting 6th, he aimed to take his first oval victory.
Rain arrived moments before the start of the race, delaying the green flag. Once the command was given after a 45-minute delay, 33 cars fired up and set off behind the pace car, ready for the green flag.
Early drama, green flag, full-course yellow and rain
Before the green flag, Scott McLaughlin’s car crashed out, missing his front wing. A visibly upset McLaughlin had hit the barriers while warming up his tyres. Scott Dixon also provided drama, as smoke emanated from the brakes from the number 9 car.
At the green light. Schwartzman led the field away, with Alex Palou moving up a position. Racing action lasted all of 20 seconds, as Marco Andretti got hit by Jack Harvey and hit the wall. Marcus Armstrong did well to avoid the Andretti car and was able to continue.
Multiple drivers took the opportunity to pit during the full-course yellow, including Will Power, Rinus Veekay, Marcus Armstrong and Josef Newgarden.
Once the car had been cleared, O’Ward took the lead from Schwartzman, the Prema dropped down the order once Rosenqvist also flew past. Sato then took the lead on lap 12, to the cheers of the crowd.
With the first frantic laps completed, the field began to settle into a rhythm before another caution was thrown due to rain.
Pitlane and restart chaos at the Indy 500
The leading six cars took to the pitlane on lap 7but Schwartzman had a disastrous stop, held up by the field after a delay fitting his right rear tyre. Also pitting was Christian Lungaard, the McLaren suffering a puncture.
Chaos ensued at the exit, with Pato O’Ward lighting up the tyres on exit, causing a chain reaction. The result left Alexander Rossi on the lead, with the group of cars behind him yet to stop.
Marcus Ericsson jumped six places in the pits, while the Penske duo of Power and Newgarden moved up to 24th and 25th respectively.
At the restart on lap 31, four cars took the Tuen 1 side by side, with Christian Rasmussen taking the lead. Graham Rahal started to drop down the order dramatically, falling towards the back. Rossi retook the lead on lap 34, he and Rasmussen pulling clear of the field.
Takuma Sato, despite stopping on lap 7, was now back in the top six, and still pushing. The cars settled down, as drivers saved fuel. Only the top four had yet to pit as lap 40 approached.
Rossi, Rasmussen and Devlin DeFrancesco all pitted on lap 43, relinquishing the lead. Jack Harvey was now the new race leader as lap 50 approached.
The top ten all had Josef Newgarden on their minds, as he was now up to P14. However, the Penske was suffering vibrations.
Pitstops, a fiery retirement and a pitlane crash
With 50 of the 200 laps completed, Sato now led, and entered fuel saving mode, cruising on the back of field to begin lapping the rear of the field.
Pato O’Ward requested that the tyre pressures be changed, at the next stop Ferruci led a massive gaggle of cars into the pitlane, including Newgarden and Alex Palou.
David Malukas was another driver on the move, closing on Sato. DeFrancesco still ran in third, yet to pit. Rossi’s car started to smoke as DeFrancesco, and Alex Palou past him. Pulling into pitlane, his car erupted into flames, his race over. Malukas retook the lead from Sato and Alex Palou.
Rinus Veekay’s brakes failed as he entered the pitlane, spinning out of control and hitting the wall, his race over. This required another full-course yellow. DeFrancesco’s time in third came to an end when he pitted, resuming 22nd.
More pitlane chaos and halfway point caution at the Indy 500
Sato led almost half the field into the pits, but ran wide into its box and needed to be wheeled back. Polesitter Schwartzman locked up into his pit box and hit the wall, knocking down several mechanics. All were ok, but the Prema driver’s race was now over.
This left Palou in the lead over Malukas. Newgarden moved up to P5 as a result of the pitlane chaos, now one of the front runners.
At the green flag, it was Ryan Hunter Reay leading the field, with Palou forced back down the order after a frantic restart.
Kyle Larson and Kyffin Simpson collided, leaving more work for the marshals to clear, with Sting Ray Robb crashing off later in the lap. The yellow flag was extended due to rainfall. Hunter Reay pitted as he was almost running on fumes.
Another dramatic restart – as relentless Newgarden targets win
After an extended delay, the race got going again, with DeFrancesco leading the field. But a full course yellow came out once again after an incident at the back. Four cars pitted under the caution, including Marcus Ericsson.
At the restart, DeFrancesco put his foot down and set off. Behind him four cars took Turn 1, with Conor Daly the winner of the duel. Malukas, Palou, Ferruci and Ilott rounded off the top six.
DeFrancesco was out of place, as he had yet to stop, finally pulling in after a strong stint at the front. This released Conor Daly into the lead.
Newgarden now in sixth, began to chase down the top five. Sato pitted again on lap 133, setting off a chain reaction. Newgarden, Daly and Palou pitted the next lap, with 67 laps remaining.
However, Newgarden’s progress stalled due to a fuel pressure issue. Returning to the pitlane, his race was now over.
Palou passed Daly, and now held the effective lead of the race. But Daly pushed back through into the lead. Louis Foster was next to pass Palou, but he was a lap down. Hunter Reay still held the lead, but Daly was chasing him hard.
50 laps to go
With just 50 laps to go, drivers began to get more aggressive. Hunter Reay still led as the laps ticked down, and extended his lead.
Malukas past Daly on lap 36 as his he began to lose speed. Ferucci and Palou past with ease, as his hopes of an Indy 500 win evaporated. He pitted two laps later.
Ferucci was now fourth, chasing down Palou, Malukas, and Hunter Reay. Palou and Ferucci pitted with 32 laps to go. Ferucci had a delayed stop, and dropped back from Palou.
Malukas pitted a lap later, and exited in front of Palou. Hunter Reay stalled during his stop ending his race hopes. Palou now ran in the slipstream of Malukas, but was initially hesitant to pass. O’Ward moved into P5, bringing himself into contention.
Palou past Malukas but now faced a new hurdle in the form of Ericsson, who left the pits still in the lead.
20 laps to go in the Indy 500
The leaders now had traffic to contend with. DeFrancesco and Foster were ahead of Ericsson, but were in a strong position on fuel.
Ericsson failed to pass the two cars, allowing Palou to close up on the Swede. But with 14 laps to go, Palou made his move, and took the lead of the Indy 500.
Malukas then attemped to close on Ericsson, but the Swede seemed to content to wait behind Palou.
With just five laps to go, the top three continued to run in formation. Ericsson had not given up hope of taking victory at the Indy 500, but his hopes were fading.
Provisional Classification
- Alex Palou
- Marcus Ericsson
- David Malukas
- Pato O’Ward
- Felix Rosenqvist
- Kyle Kirkwood
- Santino Ferucci
- Christian Rasmussen
- Christian Lungaard
- Conor Daly
- Takuma Sato
- Callum Illot
- Helio Castroneves
- Devlin DeFrancesco
- Louis Foster
- Nolan Siegel
- Colton Herta
- Ed Carpenter
- Will Power
- Graham Rahal
- Marcus Armstrong
- Jack Harvey
- Scott Dixon
- Ryan Hunter Reay
Not Classified
Josef Newgarden
Sting Ray Robb
Kyle Larson
Kyffin Simpson
Robert Schwartzman
Rinus Veekay
Alexander Rossi
Marco Andretti
Scott McLaughlin
