2025 IndyCar Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca - race results

Alex Palou took his eighth win in the 2025 IndyCar season in a superbly controlled race through several Cautions.

Starting from pole, Palou's pure pace allowed him to build continually build gaps to his competitors behind and win the race by several seconds.

"Honestly, what an amazing job by everybody at Chip Ganassi Racing [and] at Honda, DHL, for giving us everything we needed to to be as fast as we were", Palou said.

"It's been an awesome, awesome weekend [and a] awesome year overall. Today was something else. [It] Was super fun to be here. One of my favorite tracks, for sure."

Palou was joined on the podium by Arrow McLaren driver, Christian Lundgaard, who drove from seventh to second which included a bold move on his teammate and Palou's championship competitor, Pato O'Ward.

Lundgaard continued to push forward and a decision to pit laps earlier than Colton Herta who had been running in second allowed him to pass Herta on track into the final corner and hold him off in the final laps after the pack was bunched up by a late Caution.

Lundgaard said: "I obviously knew that the pit sequences are really key around here and we went into this race not knowing if it was going to be a red racer or a prime race. 

"It ended up being a red race and I just can't thank this team enough. Apparently this is the most podiums we've had in a year, so I'm very proud of the number seven Velo Arrow McLaren Chevrolet team."

Herta took the final podium position while O'Ward finished fourth despite his need to beat Palou to keep himself in the championship fight.

Although looking competitive early on, O'Ward's stint on the hard tyres dropped him out of contention.

Sat in fifth behind Scott Dixon who had risen up the field through good strategy from 19th, O'Ward managed to get past the Chip Ganassi driver after the final Caution but by that point had to settle that would be the best he would achieve this time around.

LAP-BY-LAP

Alex Palou led the field off the start, deciding to go at the last possible moment which seemed to catch Pato O’Ward off guard.

Colton Herta, the only top five car on the hard compound, managed to squeeze by the Arrow McLaren into the Turn 2 complex leaving little room for O’Ward on the exit as he pushed the car across the outside curb.

Both Robert Schwartzman and Conor Daly became entangled with each other heading into Turn 4 after Conor Daly hadn’t seen Schwartzman on his outside heading into the corner.

However, it was Kyffin Simpson and Felix Rosenqvist who brought out the first Caution into Turn 5.

Simpson, who was behind Rosenqvist, nudged the Swedish driver in his Grateful Dead livery which turned his Chip Ganassi vehicle into the wall and off in the gravel trap at the top of the hill.

Rosenqvist was also sent into the gravel trap thanks to the shove but managed to get it going again. He came back onto track three laps down on the lead pack.

On restart, Palou led the field away with the pack behind neatly following throughout the first lap.

Although Herta seemed to chase after Palou on lap one after the Spaniard went wide at Turn 1, O’Ward began to reel in the Andretti driver ahead.

O’Ward’s teammate, Christian Lundgaard made an impressive pass on David Malukas for sixth quickly after the restart into Turn 4 which then allowed Graham Rahal to have a look into Turn 5.

Malukas however got his shoulders out and wheel barged Rahal to protect the position. Rahal dropped behind Christian Rasmussen which allowed the Ed Carpenter Racing driver to overtake Malukas on lap 9 into Turn One.

The second Caution was brought out on lap 11 after Dayle Coyne Racing driver, Jacob Abel, spun his car into the barriers at Turn 2 after a rear brake problem saw him go extremely wide and into the gravel trap.

Eradicating the lead Palou had begun to build, drivers lower down the field took the opportunity to make their first pit stop.

This included Kyle Kirkwood, Scott Dixon, and Nolan Siegel, who came into the race needing to recover from a bad qualifying.

On restart Palou wasted no time on rebuilding his lead putting 2.5s on Herta within a couple of laps.

Meanwhile O’Ward began to look continually frustrated behind Herta, unable to get through and chase after his championship rival.

100 points behind Palou in the championship, it was critical that O’Ward won or finished ahead of the Spanish driver to keep his championship hopes alive.

In an attempt to get out of Herta’s dirty air, O’Ward pitted on lap 24 to undercut Herta. While it was expected Palou would react to also cover off the Mexican, both lead drivers stayed out.

Laps after O’Ward’s pitstop, Rinus VeeKay was spun off the track into Turn 4 by Kyle Kirkwood who shunted him from behind.

While a Caution was expected to appear, IndyCar officials waited until after Colton Herta and Alex Palou had reacted to the incident and pitted to bring it out.

Coming out in front of O’Ward, Herta looked vulnerable to the Arrow McLaren driver but just as he prepared to make a move, the Caution was waived.

The pitstop by the lead drivers handed local hero, Nolan Siegel, his first ever laps leading a race.

Siegel was joined by Scott Dixon and Callum Ilott at the top of the pack who had pitted alongside him much earlier and had benefitted from the Caution.

Ilott’s position was particularly impressive as the British driver had started in 24th.

Siegel had a big snap as he came to the exit of the corner to take the race back to green but managed to just hold on to the car and to the lead.

Further down in sixth, O’Ward found himself overtaken by his teammate, Christian Lundgaard which demoted him to seventh.

This allowed Herta some breathing space as Lundgaard began to hold up O’Ward with the gap between the Andretti driver to O’Ward two seconds within a few laps.

Siegel managed to hold on to the lead for several laps while Palou stalked the youngster from behind. His tenure at the front ended on lap 37.

Palou, bored of being behind, made the move on Siegel around the outside of Turn 3 before Siegel went into the pits for a pair of fresh hard tyres and rejoined in 21st.

The first to pit of the alternate strategy cars, Scott Dixon darted in for new tyres after he began to drop down positions losing places to Herta and Lundgaard in quick succession.

O’Ward once again was the first to pit of the front runners. The decision seemed to come due to O’Ward lacking pace after the third Caution and being threatened from Newgarden behind.

Dropping back by seven seconds to Lundgaard before he pitted, O’Ward circulated onto track in 13th just in front of Callum Ilott who had been in front of O’Ward before he pitted.

Lundgaard pitted after O’Ward and came out comfortably ahead of his teammate in seventh.

Both Herta and Palou pitted on the same lap to cover off Lundgaard with the Dane’s early pitstop putting him in a position to attack the Andretti driver who slipped by the American driver for second into the final corner.

Herta wasn't helped in the pitlane by his front right wheel nut which decided to escape the gun and roll down pitlane.

While the front mechanic had another on hand, it lost him six tenths.

Just outside of the top three, Scott Dixon found himself in fourth as the race entered the final 30 laps. A strong drive from 19th, Dixon pitted on lap 68 and dropped back to tenth.

Although on a different strategy, Dixon’s pit stop created a cannon effect among the top runners with Lundgaard pitting a lap later alongside Herta.

O’Ward also came in for his final stop and managed to avoid being undercut by Ilott behind who pitted on the same lap as Dixon but had problems with the rear jack during his stop.

Palou decided to stay out a few laps longer than his competitors but ended up surrounded by traffic which forced him to pit to avoid losing too much time to the cars behind.

Following the final round of stops, Dixon returned to fourth.

Although all seemed to calm down as the race entered the final twenty laps, Marcus Ericsson brought out another Caution after he kept his foot in after dipping his tyres into the gravel around Turn 6 and onto the Rahal Straight.

Stranded on track, it took a long time for both Ericsson to get going again and for officials to call a Caution despite being stuck on top of a blind crest.

Ericsson came into the pits following the incident and retired from the race after much deliberation between him and the team.

The race went green with 15 laps to go with Palou once again driving into the distance while Herta tried his best to pass Lundgaard.

O’Ward behind also tried his best to pass Dixon into Turn 2 but dipped his car off track and onto the gravel leaving him vulnerable to a pass from behind.

Siegel tried an ambitious move a couple laps later on Louis Foster into the Corkscrew but found himself spinning down the hill after the two drivers made contact.

Hoping to run under green flag to the end, Santino Ferrucci dashed these dreams when he locked his rears and spun backwards into the gravel trap at the top of the Corkscrew. Ferrucci was lucky not to collect Alexander Rossi in his spin who just managed to escape down the hill before the AJ Foyt driver sped by.

Another brief Caution was brought out which Palou led away again. Heading into Turn 2, Dixon ran wide which allowed O’Ward finally though and nearly Ilott also who Dixon defended off to protect fifth.

in his final laps Herta tried his best to make the move on Lundgaard but good defensive driving kept the Danish driver in front of the Andretti machine.

"It was good. You know, I'm so happy whenever we get to come back here", Herta explained post-race. 

"This place is, it's been great to me, been great to my family, and, and it's a real treat. It's a real driver's track to come out here, especially in an IndyCar.

"[I'm] always happy to be on the podium here. The Gainbridge Honda was super fast and we'll carry this momentum into Portland."