IndyCar 2025 season review: Palou does it again!

Two things have become abundantly apparent about Álex Palou over the last couple of years: he’s mastered the current hybrid-powered generation of Indycars better than any other driver, and he’s extremely good at compartmentalising.

It’s the latter talent that has allowed the 28-year-old Spaniard to maximise the former. While embroiled off-track in a long-running and yet-to-be-resolved legal saga between the Chip Ganassi Racing and McLaren teams over his services that could cost him millions, Palou still established himself as the best IndyCar driver of his generation.

He started 2025 by winning five of the first six races, including the Indianapolis 500, and ended the season victorious eight times in 17 starts to claim his third consecutive IndyCar Series championship and fourth in the last five years.

Palou’s most recent title was also the most remarkable, demonstrating a level of domination not believed possible with a near-spec-car formula. It all makes you wonder what he could have achieved without the distraction of the court case – or for that matter, had he gotten a chance in Formula 1, a dream Palou admits is no longer realistic.

Scott Dixon, the six-time IndyCar champion who is Palou’s Ganassi team-mate, often talks about how difficult it has been for him to adapt to the current generation of Dallara, with the added weight and higher centre of gravity from the aeroscreen and hybrid equipment. “This car with the hybrid suits people with very smooth driving styles, and that’s not me,” admitted the Kiwi.

But it plays right into Palou’s hands. His silky style and ability to manage races is most reminiscent of four-time F1 champion Alain Prost, and it will be interesting to see whether anyone is able to wrest the championship from him over the final two years of IndyCar’s current technical formula.

Only two other drivers managed to win multiple races in 2025: McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, who triumphed at Iowa and Toronto and wound up second in the standings, and Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global, who took three wins but was relegated by a lack of consistency to fourth in the points. Dixon took advantage of a rare mistake from Palou to score at Mid-Ohio, helping the evergreen New Zealander to third in the overall reckoning.

Christian Lundgaard rounded out the championship’s top five; the Dane went winless in his first season for McLaren but became a much more rounded driver who pushed O’Ward harder than any team-mate he’s had to date. Felix Rosenqvist also failed to notch a win but was generally more consistent and competitive in races than in the past to match his career best with sixth in the standings for Meyer Shank Racing.

Seventh went to Colton Herta, who was winless with Andretti and failed to earn enough points for an F1 superlicence. It’s difficult to get a read on the 25-year-old, who has arguably regressed since becoming the youngest-ever IndyCar race winner at Circuit of the Americas in 2019 and finishing third in the 2020 championship. He’s got the weight of America on his shoulders now as he embarks on a season of Formula 2 prior to hopefully being promoted to the Cadillac F1 team in 2027.

Ganassi Racing entered a technical partnership with Meyer Shank Racing this year, part of which included placing Ganassi-contracted Marcus Armstrong at MSR alongside Rosenqvist. It worked well. While the Swede produced by far his most consistent season to date, Armstrong finished close behind in the standings and looks set to be IndyCar’s breakout star of 2026.

Team Penske had a nightmare season which traced its roots to the start of 2024, when Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin were disqualified from the season opener due to illegal use of the Push to Pass function. When two Penske cars were found to be using illegally modified spec components in qualifying for this year’s Indianapolis 500, more penalties ensued and Roger Penske dismissed three top managers, including president Tim Cindric, a 26-year Team Penske veteran.
McLaughlin’s crash on the warm-up lap for the Indy 500 symbolised Penske’s futile campaign. Will Power and Josef Newgarden finally earned Penske wins near the end of the season, but by then, Power had made the decision to leave the team he had driven for since 2009 to take over Herta’s open seat at Andretti. Ninth, 10th and 12th in the standings were Penske’s worst results since 1999, which was its last winless campaign.

Splitting the Penske drivers in the points was 24-year-old David Malukas, long known to be Power’s replacement-in-waiting – a key factor in why the Australian veteran chose to pursue the Andretti opportunity. Penske placed Malukas with and provided technical assistance to AJ Foyt Racing in 2025, and Malukas was generally more impressive than team-mate Santino Ferrucci. The latter enjoyed a stretch of four consecutive top-five finishes in May and June, including podiums at Detroit and Road America, but ended the year a lowly 16th in the standings, five spots behind Malukas.

Ed Carpenter Racing’s Christian Rasmussen was the only other driver to win a race in 2025 in a memorable performance at Milwaukee. Rasmussen usually outpaced his more experienced team-mate Alexander Rossi but showed an occasional wild streak that incurred the wrath of competitors.

Rinus VeeKay was a last-minute signing for Dale Coyne Racing, and it proved to be a solid landing spot for the young Dutchman after five years driving for ECR. By contrast, the Juncos Hollinger Racing duo of Conor Daly and Sting Ray Robb frequently struggled outside of Daly’s fifth-place finish in the season finale at Nashville.

“RLL is pinning its future hopes on F1 cast-off Mick Schumacher”

It was another challenging year for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, with Graham Rahal, Louis Foster and Devlin DeFrancesco all 19th or lower in the championship. Foster showed some speed and earned pole position at Road America to earn a contract extension. RLL is pinning its future hopes on F1 cast-off Mick Schumacher.

Rookie team Prema Racing impressed IndyCar veterans with its professionalism and Robert Shwartzman took an unlikely pole for the Indianapolis 500. Results were thin, though Callum Ilott notched top 10s in four of the final five races.

IndyCar continues to struggle in the marketplace, with several events (notably the final races run at Iowa Speedway) run in front of near-empty grandstands. A new street race around the Dallas Cowboys football stadium will fill an early season hole in the schedule and is expected to be a commercial winner for the series. IndyCar has also switched its 2026 finale to Laguna Seca, which served as the season closer for CART in its 1990s heyday.

The series was pleased with its new partnership with Fox Sports, which claimed an overall 27% increase in viewership over 2024, said to be IndyCar’s best television performance in 17 years. The Indianapolis 500 enjoyed a similar boost with a US broadcast audience exceeding seven million.

With two more seasons of racing on tap with the ancient 2012-based Dallara before IndyCar finally introduces a new car in 2028, the big question is whether anybody can figure out how to beat Álex Palou – the proven master of the series’ hybrid era.

IndyCar Series 2025

Top 25 of the American drivers’ standings