Another victory at Barber Motorsports Park demoralized the competition and to bring down the competition even more, Palou's worst finish through four races is second.
Good luck, everyone else.
There is not much else to say. We have not seen many races where a driver checks out from the drop of the green flag. Outside of the opening stint, no one came close to Palou today. He was gone.
Palou doesn't make mistakes. The crew doesn't make mistakes. Barry Wanser never makes a mistake on strategy. The one possible thing that could have tripped Palou up today was starting on the alternate tire, which was the preferred tire today. Could one stint on the primary tire mid-race cost Palou time and allow someone else to sweep through? We saw such a strategy cost Scott McLaughlin victory at St. Petersburg. Would it derail Palou's drive to victory?
Nope! Palou still pulled away. Once he was through with the primary compound, this race was over.
There aren't even tracks that trip Palou up. Next up is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Palou has won the last two Grand Prix of Indianapolis. The Indianapolis 500? He has run well in that race before. He is a past winner at Detroit. Gateway might be his worst track, but he doesn't struggle on ovals, and his advantage will likely be great enough that he can settle to finish eighth or ninth or even 12th and not suffer.
Someone will need to beat Palou to win this 2025 championship, and beat him at all the remaining 13 races. That isn't going to happen.
2. The closest challenger to Palou in the championship was the closest car at the checkered flag, and Christian Lundgaard still finished 16.0035 seconds the Catalan driver. For Lundgaard, it is three consecutive podium finishes and it places him second in the championship, but 60 points back. It could be worse but this is far from great.
Lundgaard was extraordinary today, especially mid-race. He went from seventh to second and made a hat trick of stellar passes on Patricio O'Ward, Will Power and Scott McLaughlin to get up to second.
For a tense environment at McLaren, Lundgaard could not have asked for a better start. Many previous hires have already been in trouble four races into their McLaren tenure. Lundgaard is doing just fine. Palou isn't going to win 16 races. Lundgaard is due to have a standout day and get a victory of his own. He might win a few. The Grand Prix of Indianapolis is one of Lundgaard's favorite races. Let's not be surprised if Lundgaard keeps up the form in six day's time.
3. Scott McLaughlin had some work to hold onto third. Dale Coyne Racing's Rinus VeeKay gave Team Penske's McLaughlin a scrap in the final laps, but McLaughlin had enough to get the podium position.
McLaughlin also started on the alternate tire and took on the primary tire in the second stint, like Palou. Unlike Palou, McLaughlin could not run at a blistering pace, and he was struggling at the end of that run. It is what cost him second. It actually cost him the spot to Colton Herta. It allowed Lundgaard to be close after the next round of pit stops and Lundgaard could slip through when McLaughlin was still on cold tires.
Outside of the final charge from VeeKay, McLaughlin wasn't really in much of a battle. Lundgaard was gone once cleared, and McLaughlin was on his own until the closing laps. Good car, good day, still miles away.
4. If this wasn't a bludgeoning from Palou, Rinus VeeKay would be driver of the day. Going from fifth on the grid to fourth doesn't sound that impressive, but VeeKay had two out-laps of legend. On the first, VeeKay came out ahead of Colton Herta after Herta's poor pit stop and then he had Will Power and Patricio O'Ward breathing fire down his neck on warm tires.
If it wasn't for O'Ward and Power being equal and battling each other, VeeKay might have lost the spots, but the battle behind allowed VeeKay to stay ahead, and he opened up some breathing room on the next stint.
For the final pit stop, a slow change of the right front put him in danger of losing spots. Instead, he came out ahead of Power, but again with the two-time champion on his tail. However, VeeKay held off Power and kept the position. Then VeeKay chased down McLaughlin. Traffic ahead of McLaughlin assisted VeeKay in closing in for third, but I think that same traffic hurt once VeeKay got there because all he had in his face was turbulent air on older tires.
VeeKay was 0.3330 seconds from third, but nobody likely expected Dale Coyne Racing to finish in the top five on speed this season, and VeeKay was one of the best five cars all weekend.
5. Will Power had been running fourth until the third stint. Power was a little upset he didn't get ahead of McLaughlin and the team could have run a little longer in the middle of the race. Power let his frustrations be known over the radio. This has been a good recovery after not completing a lap at St. Petersburg. Sixth, fifth and fifth. They are good results, but not great results.
6. Sixth place doesn't look as good when your teammate is finishing on the podium in nearly every race. Patricio O'Ward has become used to his perch as McLaren's lead driver. It is hard to say that spot is not in danger after Lundgaard's start. There is a lot of season to go and Lundgaard still has to show it on ovals, but O'Ward has been in Lundgaard's shadow the entire season. Not a bad place to be if you are finishing sixth, but O'Ward must string together some results. If O'Ward wants to remain McLaren's #1 driver, at some point he must beat his teammate.
7. Colton Herta's biggest rival is pit stops. On the second stop, Herta stalled after entering the pit lane in second. He wasn't going to chase down and beat Palou, but Herta was poised for another podium finish and another pit stop error took it away. Lundgaard's pace might have taken second away from Herta, but Herta should have at least finished third.
The good news is this wasn't a 16th-place disaster like St. Petersburg. Herta still finished seventh, but it is points lost at a time when no one can lose points. It is going to take perfection to come close to Palou, and we know Herta's team cannot be perfect. It gets in its own way more than most on the grid. It is better this happened in the first race of May than the last race of May. The #26 crew and driver should be on notice.
8. Alexander Rossi had to blow through the alternate tires to get positions early in the race. The tax Rossi paid at the end was running his final stint on the primary tire. Rossi actually came out of the pit lane ahead of Herta on the final stop, but Herta overtook Rossi shortly after that. It is a surprise that is the only spot Rossi lost.
Rossi did 22 laps on that final stint. I think Nolan Siegel was on Rossi's rear wing for about 17 laps. Somehow, Rossi hung on. Starting 15th is a tough spot to be in. I think the team did the best it could with the hand it was dealt. Three top ten finishes through four races is a good start.
9. Nolan Siegel needed a good day and he had a good day. Being the best McLaren starter in sixth meant he had to produce a respectable result. Being the worst McLaren finisher isn't likely what Siegel had in mind, but it is a ninth-place result. He is still 20 years old. Siegel held his own while put toward the front of the grid. We had not seen Siegel this solidly in the top ten at the start of a race. He didn't make any errors and could have a decent day.
Last year, McLaren had all three of its cars finish outside the top twenty. Having all three of its cars in the top ten is a 180º turn the team will celebrate. Siegel made a step today.
10. Josef Newgarden did nothing and finished tenth. Newgarden didn't have the greatest start and he could not make up any ground in this race. It was mostly a recovery drive considering Newgarden started ninth. It wasn't a bad day. Newgarden didn't make any mistakes. He just wasn't competitive. His two teammates at least were running in the top five.
In a way, Newgarden is like Siegel. He needed to make a step today. It wasn't another 26th-place finish. That is at least an improvement.
11. Kyle Kirkwood started 18th and climbed to 11th. With the depth of IndyCar, there are always two or three names you are surprised don't make it out of the first round of qualifying. Kirkwood was one this weekend. That can be a big difference in what kind of race you have.
If Kirkwood gets out of the first round of qualifying, he is going to finish in the top ten. Perhaps he is right with his teammate Herta and fighting for a top five result. Caught in the middle of the field, Kirkwood had some extra work to do and after all he accomplished, it still wasn't enough for a top ten. In some ways, exiting Barber only 69 points behind Palou is a small miracle.
12. Scott Dixon went from 26th to 12th, and he didn't even look that good through the first stint. I think Dixon was 21st and behind Marcus Ericsson after the first round of pit stops. All the ground was made in the middle of the race. This was a three-stop race for everyone. Seeing the pace Palou had, Dixon surely had good speed, especially at the end of stints. Good in-laps and out-laps can get you a lot of spots. It certainly helped today.
13. Meyer Shank Racing tried to go alternate-alternate-primary-alternate in this race on both its cars, and it didn't quite work out. Felix Rosenqvist went from 14th to 13th. Better than where he started but no one outside of second on the grid is devising a strategy to gain one spot.
Marcus Armstrong might have been on his way to a top ten finish, but on his final stop, Armstrong's crew had issues getting the fuel hose out of the car and that cost him everything. Seeing how Armstrong's final lap was a 72.4676, I would guess that fuel issue also meant the car didn't get entirely full. What could have been a top ten was 17th for Armstrong.
It is a shame because Meyer Shank Racing looked competitive today. I have a good feeling about this group at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis next week.
14. It is hard to celebrate a 14th-place finish. It is hard to think that is the best Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing can do, but Graham Rahal did go from 21st to 14th. It is a minor victory but it shows the work this team must do.
Devlin DeFrancesco was 24th and I don't know if he ever ran a lap better than 24th all race. Louis Foster spent a good percentage of the race as the top RLLR driver, but Foster had a moment exiting the final corner and went off course. Keeping it out of the barrier and keeping it from being stuck in mud, Foster lost a lap and then he lost another and finished 26th.
15. While Alexander Rossi was eighth, Christian Rasmussen was 15th. Rasmussen attempted to run long on his penultimate stint and set up a 17-lap sprint to the finish. If it wasn't for that strategy, which put Rasmussen into the top ten for a few laps, I don't think we would have heard his name all race.
16. David Malukas was 16th and was pretty much non-existent in this race. I don't understand how anyone believes Malukas is going to Team Penske anytime soon. Really look at his results. Seriously.
Santino Ferrucci's car was not filled after the first stop and it put Ferrucci on a four-stop strategy. Ferrucci did run hard the rest of the way and was mixing it up in the top ten but that fourth stop was always going to be costly. He started 13th. If the car had been filled with fuel after the first stop, I don't know if Ferrucci sneaks into the top ten. He certainly finishes better than 18th. It is points unnecessarily lost though.
17. Where else do we go?
Juncos Hollinger Racing was not seen once. Conor Daly was 19th, exactly where he started, and Sting Ray Robb was 22nd, exactly where he started. How often does that happen? That is a dangerous rabbit hole to consider exploring. The team played the right strategy at Long Beach and had a good reward. When it came to pace, it just wasn't there for JHR this weekend.
18. Marcus Ericsson had a whale of a weekend. Practice accident, knocked out in the first round of qualifying, and then Ericsson never ran better than 20th in the race. He had some front wing damage to boot. It has been a trying season-and-a-quarter at Andretti Global. It has had some high points, but Ericsson has face regular struggles as well.
Kyffin Simpson kept up his darling run when he qualified tenth. The clock struck midnight on his first pit stop when his crew was slow on the left rear. That torpedoed Simpson's day and he was not seen again until he was lapped. Twenty-first is rather cruel.
19. The remaining cars to acknowledge are Prema's drivers, who were 23rd (Callum Ilott) and 25th (Robert Shwartzman) and Jacob Abel, who was last, two laps down and for the fourth consecutive race.
I do wonder if the hybrid-era of IndyCar has made it rather unforgiving for rookies, drivers and teams included.
The three rookie drivers were the bottom three drivers in this race. If it wasn't for Devlin DeFrancesco, the bottom four would have been the three rookies and both cars from the only new team on the grid.
Abel hasn't been close anywhere. I don't know if we saw anything go wrong for Abel today. He just hasn't been making strides. Rinus VeeKay is a good driver, and he is likely pulling more out of that Dale Coyne Racing car than it has, but and if VeeKay is finishing in the top five, the Dale Coyne Racing car must be good, not necessarily great, but at least good.
I don't think Abel is a terrible driver. I just don't know if Abel has had enough time with the hybrid and if that lack of testing with the smallest team has hung him out to dry.
Foster made his own mistake. If Foster doesn't go off, he probably finishes 18th or 19th. He is in the top twenty. This result wasn't entire because Foster has a lack of experience with the car. Rookie mistake.
We know Callum Ilott can be quick in an IndyCar. Prema hasn't been awful, but it hasn't been good. The team is able to put two cars on track and in four races Prema has gotten both its cars to the checkered flag. Both cars were on the lead lap at St. Petersburg. Shwartzman was on the lead lap at Long Beach. The pace just isn't there for something notable for the right reasons.
All the rookies are behind on the competition, and one organized preseason test plus two or three tests on their own is not going to be enough for a young driver to pick up enough to be relatively competitively, especially for one with an entirely new team.
It feels like this is going to be the norm this season. These three or four drivers are going to be stuck and never finish better than 20th unless many other drivers have issues.
20. For the first time since the Portland, Meadowlands and Cleveland races in 1986, there have been three consecutive caution-free races in IndyCar. After Long Beach, Alexander Rossi said on his podcast the reason there had been no cautions is because no one was pushing beyond 80-90% because every driver is saving tire or saving fuel.
If this was 80-90%, it was damn impressive. It didn't look like anyone was holding back in this race. It was a three-stopper. Everyone knew to stick to the alternate tire. The battle wasn't for the lead, but there were battles everywhere else. From the podium to the top five to the top ten to even the final cars on the lead lap. There was action everywhere. In some cases, it is because the drivers are not pushing the limit. It should also be acknowledged when the drivers are professionals and not doing anything stupid.
There was plenty of side-by-side racing today that someone could have gone over the edge and taken someone else out. No one did. Foster had an off. Ferrucci nearly lost it. Ericsson had some damage. These guys weren't just palling around this afternoon.
We will wait until Thursday to see if Rossi says anything different. Probably not. What will be different is next week at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, when every team will be required to use both tire compounds twice in the race. Everyone will be on a three-stop strategy, but it will not be as simple as getting one stint out of the way.
If the worst of the two compounds is a dog, teams will have to suffer on it twice, and that is not as easy as running three laps and getting it off the car. That will shake up strategy, and this regulation change is one I welcome trying because I have pitched it as an option for some of these races.
There is a greater dynamic if a tire compound must be used twice. Imagine today's race if everyone had to use the primary compound twice. The primary compound wasn't terrible. Rossi used it on the final stint and only lost one spot, but if teams have to use it twice, it will shake things up. We will have to wait and see how that turns out.
21. Overall, not a bad race, and we are just getting started. Six days until the next one and soon we will have nearly daily competition from Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
