Alex Palou of Barcelona, Spain has won the 2025 Indianapolis 500. He is the first Spaniard ever to win what many consider as the most prestigious auto race in the entire world. A total of 350,000 were in attendance.
Inside look at the win
Palou, who represents Chip Ganassi Racing with DHL as the primary sponsor, was the sixth faster driver in qualifying. That meant he started on the outside of lane two. Palou led the race for 14 laps, and had a total time of two hours, 57 minutes, 38.2965 seconds. He was 0.6822 seconds faster than Marcus Ericsson of Kumla, Sweden. The 2022 Indianapolis 500 winner had a second place time of two hours, 57 minutes, 38.9887 seconds.
Palou passed Ericsson to take the lead with 14 laps left. According to fourth place finisher Pato O’Ward of Mexico, Ericsson did not do a very good job in protecting the lead.
Dominant 2025 IndyCar season
Palou has now won five of the six IndyCar races this season. He also won the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 2, the Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix in Palm Springs, California on March 23, the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix on May 4, and the Sonsio Grand Prix, which is also held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, on May 10.
Palou has 306 total points. That is 115 more points than O’Ward, who is in second place with 191 points. It is not surprising that O’Ward made those controversial comments about Ericsson when he is trying to catch Palou.
The only race that Palou has not won in 2025 was the Acuna Grand Prix of Long Beach. Palou finished second behind American Kyle Kirkwood of Jupiter, Florida.
Twelve other Indy Car wins
The 2025 Indianapolis 500 was Palou’s 17th IndyCar career victory. Prior to 2025, Palou won the 2021 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, the 2021 and 2023 Grand Prix at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, the 2021 and 2023 Grand Prix of Portland, 2022 and 2024 Firestone Grand Prix at Monterrey, the 2023 and 2024 Indianapolis Grand Prix, the 2023 Detroit Grand Prix, the 2023 Mid-Ohio Race, and the 2024 Thermal Club race.
