Indy 500: Palou surges by Ericsson for maiden win

Alex Palou has accomplished nearly everything the IndyCar Series has to offer, as the three-time champion took his maiden victory at the Indianapolis 500.

Palou surged past 2022 winner Marcus Ericsson in the closing stages and fended off the Swedish driver with the help of two cars battling to stay on the lead lap to claim the 109th running of the Indy 500.

It was Palou’s fifth win already of the 2025 IndyCar season, a dominant stretch that leaves him as the obvious championship favourite – and has now captured his maiden win on an oval in IndyCar’s crowning race.

“I cannot believe it,” Palou said. “What an amazing day. What an amazing race by the #10 crew, everybody at CGR, HRC. I cannot believe it. It’s amazing to be here. It’s amazing to win.”

Four years prior, an inexperienced Palou had been in the lead when the veteran Helio Castroneves passed him and used the tow of leading cars at the tail end of the lead lap to maintain the lead for a record-tying fourth Indy 500 triumph.

Palou used the lessons learned that day to his advantage, following Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Devlin DeFrancesco and Louis Foster and using their tow to help him conserve fuel and maintain the front spot.

“At the end, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to pass Marcus or not,” Palou admitted. “But I made it happen. First oval win. What a better place.”

Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing

Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images via Getty Images

An emotional Palou also enjoyed a similar victory celebration to Castroneves, running down the track before celebrating with his crew. Meanwhile Ericsson looked on, despondent after coming home 0.6822s shy of his second Indy 500 triumph in a race that ended under caution.

David Malukas finished third, capping off a strong day for AJ Foyt Racing. Pato O'Ward and Felix Rosenqvist completed the top five, with Kyle Kirkwood, Santino Ferrucci, Christian Rasmussen, Christian Lundgaard and Conor Daly wrapping up the top 10.

The Indy 500 started in chaotic fashion, with two accidents before the field could complete a full lap of green flag racing. After a brief rain delay to start the race, Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin lost control of his #3 Chevrolet while trying to warm his tyres and crashed into the inside wall at the start of the final planned pace lap.

The race started under caution as a result of McLaughlin’s error. The remaining cars created the traditional rows of three and finally took the green flag at the end of lap four, but the race was again placed under the caution flag after Marco Andretti crashed at Turn 1, his 20th Indy 500 appearance undone by a run-in with Jack Harvey.

That set the tone for the day, with crashes and mechanical gremlins shaking up the running order and eliminating many hopeful contenders.

Alexander Rossi climbed into the top five only to suffer a gearbox issue and have his car catch fire when he made an unscheduled pitstop. Rinus VeeKay lost control of his machine and crashed into pitwall when coming in for a green-flag stop, while a few laps later, polesitter Robert Shwartzman ran into his pitcrew when sliding into his box for a stop.

Kyle Larson’s attempt at 'The Double' was threatened by the rain and many cautions, but any worries over timing were undone when he crashed with Kyffin Simpson and Sting Ray Robb on lap 91.

Kyle Larson, Arrow McLaren, Sting Ray Robb, Juncos Hollinger Racing

Photo by: Brandon Badraoui / Motorsport Images via Getty Images

Two-time defending race winner Josef Newgarden’s shot at history also ended early, undone by a fuel pump issue after just 135 laps.

While another high profile former winner in Scott Dixon suffered a fire before the start and ended up losing three laps when his crew elected to replace his brakes.

In the end, just 23 of the 33 cars made it to the last lap, with Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel crashing on the final lap to bring the race to an end under caution.

With the Month of May complete in Indianapolis, IndyCar will venture north to Michigan for a 1 June race on the streets of Detroit.

Indy 500 results

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10	200	2:57'38.2965		168.883	5	58
2	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28	200	+0.6822 2:57'38.9787	0.6822	168.872	5	45
3	D. Malukas A.J. Foyt Enterprises	4	200	+1.1426 2:57'39.4391	0.4604	168.864	5	42
4	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5	200	+2.1327 2:57'40.4292	0.9901	168.849	5	43
5	F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing	60	200	+2.9464 2:57'41.2429	0.8137	168.836	5	38
6	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27	200	+3.9822 2:57'42.2787	1.0358	168.819	5	29
7	S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14	200	+4.9902 2:57'43.2867	1.0080	168.803	5	26
8	C. Rasmussen Ed Carpenter Racing	21	200	+6.0274 2:57'44.3239	1.0372	168.787	5	25
9	C. Lundgaard Arrow McLaren	7	200	+9.2592 2:57'47.5557	3.2318	168.736	6	27
10	C. Daly Juncos Hollinger Racing	76	200	+13.3125 2:57'51.6090	4.0533	168.672	5	21
11	T. Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	75	200	+16.9157 2:57'55.2122	3.6032	168.615	5	33
12	C. Ilott Prema Racing	90	200	+21.3918 2:57'59.6883	4.4761	168.544	5	18
13	H. Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing	06	200	+59.6118 2:58'37.9083	38.2200	167.943	5	17
14	D. DeFrancesco Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	30	200	+1'02.1039 2:58'40.4004	2.4921	167.904	5	17
15	L. Foster Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45	200	+1'03.0004 2:58'41.2969	0.8965	167.890	5	15
16	N. Siegel Arrow McLaren	6	199	+1 Lap 2:57'08.9498	1 Lap	168.502	5	14	Accident
17	C. Herta Andretti Global	26	199	+1 Lap 2:58'01.2688	52.3190	167.677	5	13
18	E. Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing	33	199	+1 Lap 2:58'04.9409	3.6721	167.619	5	13
19	W. Power Team Penske	12	199	+1 Lap 2:58'06.2100	1.2691	167.599	6	12
20	G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15	199	+1 Lap 2:58'35.3603	29.1503	167.143	6	10
21	M. Armstrong Meyer Shank Racing	66	198	+2 Laps 2:57'46.7264	1 Lap	167.062	5	9
22	J. Harvey Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports	24	198	+2 Laps 2:58'11.0046	24.2782	166.682	5	9
23	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9	197	+3 Laps 2:58'04.1386	1 Lap	165.947	6	16
24	R. Hunter-Reay Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports	23	171	+29 Laps 2:42'02.7642	26 Laps	158.288	5	7	Mechanical
25	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2	135	+65 Laps 2:17'14.9730	36 Laps	147.541	5	7	Mechanical
26	R. Robb Sting Juncos Hollinger Racing	77	91	+109 Laps 1:27'04.9592	44 Laps	156.748	3	5	Accident
27	K. Larson Arrow McLaren/Rick Hendrick	17	91	+109 Laps 1:27'04.9818	0.0226	156.747	3	5	Accident
28	K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing	8	91	+109 Laps 1:27'05.0037	0.0219	156.746	3	5	Accident
29	R. Shwartzman Prema Racing	83	87	+113 Laps 1:21'31.0585	4 Laps	160.088	2	18	Accident
30	R. van Kalmthout Dale Coyne Racing	18	81	+119 Laps 1:18'38.1841	6 Laps	154.509	2	5	Accident
31	A. Rossi Ed Carpenter Racing	20	73	+127 Laps 1:07'46.8073	8 Laps	161.552	1	6	Mechanical
32	M. Andretti Andretti Global	98	4	+196 Laps 6'30.4913	69 Laps	92.192		5	Accident
33	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3	0	0.000				8	Accident
View full results