Speedway, IN – Alex Palou led only the final 14 laps to win the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500, with a 0.6822-second margin over Marcus Ericsson, continuing his season of dominance with his first INDYCAR oval victory. In spite of cold and damp conditions, under gray skies, a sold-out crowd was well entertained in the long, chaotic race after an initial 30-minute delay for moisture.
On Lap 187, Palou, running second but fourth in line, made a daring inside pass on Ericsson entering Turn 1 for the lead. While it might have been better to make that pass within a lap or two of the checkered flag, the Spaniard knew he wouldn’t have enough grip left from his aging tires if he waited. He got the better of Ericsson, who left the door open on the inside.
The two leaders found themselves running in line behind the two Rahal Letterman Lanigan teammates of Devlin DeFrancesco and Louis Foster, who were on a different strategy, making passing high risk and extremely difficult in the wake of their turbulence.
“I cannot believe it,” said 28-year-old Palou, earning his first oval win despite already being a three-time INDYCAR champion. “It’s amazing to win. There were some moments that I felt really good in the race, but at the end, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to pass Marcus (Ericsson).
“We were not in the best position on strategy,” continued Palou, who gave Chip Ganassi his sixth Indy 500 victory. “I had less tires and fuel. Nor did I have the best balance at the end of the tire life after 20 laps. But I saw an opportunity to go for it, even though it was a bit too early. There were a lot of fast cars out there. I was able to take advantage of the traffic. Ericsson is my former teammate and I knew he would be fair.”
Once again, Ericsson found himself as the runner-up, after started ninth for Andretti Global. What could have been another epic battle between first and second place in the final laps was hampered by the traffic ahead, making passing very sketchy.
“This race is a winner-take-all kind of race,” described 34-year-old Ericsson, who led 17 laps and had fresher tires and more fuel than Palou after pitting seven laps later. “It was a tough race but today I felt we could fight for the win. I had those cars ahead and I was struggling in their dirty air. Alex got a run on me, but I thought he wasn’t going to go for it. That’s going to keep me up at night for a while – that moment, you play it in your head a million times, and what you could have done differently. The last three or four laps was about trying to give everything I’ve got. I tried to keep my foot down, had some moments, but it was not enough today.
“I’m just disappointed,” continued Ericsson. “This race means everything to me. To finish second again is pretty painful. Second is a good result, but here it’s not a good result. Here you’ve got to win.”
David Malukas, 23, credited his team and engineers for doing an outstanding job all month to finish third, earning his best Indy 500 result, driving for AJ Foyt Racing this season.
“All those yellow flags, and how good we were, when so many things can go wrong in the race – everything went forward for us,” stated Malukas, who started seventh in his third Indy 500. “It’s a bittersweet ending but what a good race. We gave it our all in those last 15 laps, trying to get something out of it. I was just hanging on for dear life. Those two cars (ahead) ruined the fun for us and chose the winner. That’s just kind of how this track goes.”
Although the cooler temperatures, around 17°C, created close racing, Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, who started 10th, found the front straight inside wall while warming his tires on the pace lap, bringing out the first caution for three laps. At the same time, Scott Dixon had a brake overheating issue with a fire. The Ganassi team replaced his brakes in pit lane but the delay took him out of contention.
The eventual iconic 11-row, three-wide rolling start, coming to the green flag, was on Lap 4. As drivers were squeezing four- and five-wide into Turn 1, Jack Harvey moved slightly up into his teammate, Ryan Hunter-Reay, who then touched Marco Andretti on the outside. Andretti spun and collected Marcus Armstrong. Six drivers pitted under this early caution, including Hunter-Reay, creating different strategies.
Polesitter and rookie driver Robert Shwartzman took the lead, as the drivers were cautious following McLaughlin’s crash. Pato O’Ward passed Shwartzman when the racing resumed on Lap 9 and led for two laps until Takuma Sato passed for the lead.
A caution for moisture lasted from Lap 19 through Lap 29, allowing the remaining drivers to pit for the first time on Lap 24.
Alexander Rossi, the 2016 Indy 500 winner, who drives for Ed Carpenter Racing, pitted on Lap 73 while in third-place, only to have a fueling issue cause a rare pit fire, ending his day. Then Rinus VeeKay, driving for Dale Coyne Racing, lost control entering pit lane on Lap 82; he spun and hit the inside pit wall due to a brake issue. That brought out the fourth caution for nine laps.
Sato led the most laps, with 51, but overshot his pit box on his second stop by nearly half a car length, falling to 17th on Lap 87.
Following the Lap 92 restart, Kyle Larson, driving for Arrow McLaren, spun entering Turn 2 and hit Kyffin Simpson, who then made contact with Sting Ray Robb, ending all three drivers’ races.
Most drivers pitted again on Lap 87, under the caution for VeeKay’s pit lane incident. But Shwartzman locked his brakes entering his pit box, the first box at pit-out, slid into the wall, and mowed down four of his crewmen. Suspension damage ended his day but, to his relief, the pit crew was okay.
Near the back of the field, Christian Rasmussen miraculously saved his sideways car on the Lap 106 restart, but brought out the sixth caution for two laps. And, on the final lap, Nolan Siegel made contact in Turn 2 for the seventh caution, which had no real effect on the leaders exiting Turn 4.
O’Ward, who suffered last year’s heartbreaking finish behind Josef Newgarden, was critical of the race and the effect of the extra weight for the hybrid, making the cars much more on-edge.
“It was a pretty crap race,” said the popular Mexican star, 26, who started third and finished fourth. “It sucks. It went down to Ericsson, who kind of choked and let Palou by. It’s a finish no one here wanted to see. There were a bunch of non-experienced drivers involved in some pathetic restarts that were not up to the level of what we should be seeing at the Indy 500. It felt like we were playing roulette in a casino and picking the outside or inside (lane). Depending on what everyone else chose, you either got screwed or made up ten positions. We got hosed there a couple of times but we made it back up. I fought as hard as I could.”
Toronto’s DeFrancesco was one of 15 drivers to finish on the lead lap in a race that took 2 hours and 57 minutes to complete. There were 22 lead changes among 14 drivers.
“Overall, it was a good performance by everybody,” explained DeFrancesco, who led 17 laps and finished 14th. “The No. 30 Dogecoin Honda was ridiculously quick. We took a swing to win the thing on Lap 105 and didn’t take the yellow (to pit in order to retain the lead). That’s effectively what put a stinker on our day. I really think we had a car to win today. There was no one we couldn’t run with, hang with, and pass. We had a real strong car so it’s frustrating for it to end that way, but we’ll regroup and go to Detroit.”
Honda has now won the first six of 17 events of the 2025 NTT INDYCAR season (they have 547 points vs Chevy’s 428 points in the standings). Five races have been won by Palou alone and Kyle Kirkwood won at the Long Beach Grand Prix.
Finally, earning his first oval victory, Palou now feels he is a complete driver. The Spaniard holds a huge lead in the championship fight, with 306 points to O’Ward’s 191, Kirkwood’s 180, Christian Lundgaard’s 177, and Felix Rosenqvist‘s 163.
The record 2025 total purse came to $20,283,000 with first-time winner Palou earning $3.8 million.
When official results were posted the day following the race, INDYCAR announced post-technical inspection violations for three cars. Andretti Global cars, driven by Ericsson (No. 28, finished second) and Kirkwood (No. 27, finished sixth), were found to have the Dallara-supplied Energy Management System (EMS) covers and cover-to-A-arm mounting points with unapproved spacers and parts. According to the INDYCAR rulebook, EMS covers must be used as supplied. The Prema car, driven by Callum Ilott (No. 90, finished 12th), was disqualified for its front wing assembly not meeting the minimum endplate height and location specification.
All three cars have been re-ordered to the rear of the field in the order of their unofficial finishing positions. Prize money and championship race points have been adjusted to the final official results. Each car was assessed a $100,000 fine and the team/competition managers for the three entries have been placed on a one-race suspension.
The official top-five are now winner Alex Palou, David Malukas (second), Pato O’Ward (third), Felix Rosenqvist (fourth), and Santino Ferrucci (fifth). Next up is the Detroit Grand Prix on Sunday, June 1.
