Alex Palou dominates Grand Prix of St. Pete, sets up fourth title run

Alex Palou wins the IndyCar Grand Prix of St. Pete

Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske led the field to green alongside Andretti Global’s Colton Herta. McLaughlin got an early lead, with Herta taking a moment longer to grab the start.

But we didn’t get far into the lap before a nasty crash saw a yellow flag fly. The No. 6 Arrow McLaren of Nolan Siegel received a bump from the rear by the No. 12 Penske of Will Power. Siegel cracked into the wall, collecting Power in the process; unfortunately, the No. 45 of rookie Louis Foster was also collected in the mix.

A slew of cars came into the pit lane to change to harder tires during the yellow flag period. McLaughlin remained in the lead as the field went back green on Lap 7, but the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing machine of Felix Rosenqvist made a strong but ultimately fruitless effort at passing.

The field slowly spread out as the race continued under green and remained fairly static until Arrow McLaren driver Pato O’Ward made an early stop around lap 23. On Lap 1, they’d sustained a puncture; he had to pit for new tires at the start of the race, then needed to replace the softs with the hard tires in the first quarter of the race.

More on IndyCar:

???? Explained: The chaotic history of the IndyCar split and reunification

???? Leaders Circle: The IndyCar championship you may not know about

The first frontrunners began to come in on Lap 31, with Rosenqvist being the first to take advantage of them to swap to alternate tires, followed one lap later by McLaughlin.

Marcus Armstrong, driver of the No. 66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda, inherited the lead and continued to push hard for track position on a light fuel tank for several laps.

The No. 26 of Colton Herta had an issue with the rear right tire; it wouldn’t seat properly and forced him into a far longer stop than expected. Fired up, he started to battle his way back up to the front of the field. He had to pit again soon after, as he hadn’t been properly fueled up.

After the pit stops cycled through, McLaughlin once again filtered out in the lead with 60 laps of 100 remaining, boasting a gap of over eight seconds on second place.

Armstrong swapped back to primaries after getting the mandatory 10 laps on the alternate green tires, hoping to get back up to speed; he also reported an issue with the rear of his car that forced a retirement. McLaughlin followed soon after, on lap 44, and left the No. 7 Arrow McLaren of Christian Lundgaard in the lead.

Alexander Rossi, who had been running in the top five, was one of several drivers saving their alternate tires for the closing stages of the race, and he made his stop on Lap 65. He returned to the track in 10th. Meanwhile, Scott Dixon in the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing machine began to close in on Lundgaard in the lead.

Lundgaard pitted on Lap 68 for soft tires with the hope of making them last the final 31 laps — even though the tires had been observed to begin falling off after around 14 laps.

That kicked off another round of stops that saw McLaughlin resume the lead heading into Lap 73. Alex Palou in the No. 10 CGR machine undercut Dixon, but Dixon was able to pull back onto the track in front of fifth-placed Josef Newgarden, before Newgarden made the pass.

McLaughlin pitted on Lap 74 for new tires, followed by Felix Rosenqvist, leaving reigning champion Alex Palou assuming the lead with a five-second gap over the second-placed Newgarden.

On Lap 13, Palou approached the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing machine of Sting Ray Robb, the final car on the lead lap, allowing Newgarden to begin closing the gap to Palou.

With seven laps remaining in the event, Newgarden had firmly caught up with Palou, and Dixon had pulled up to Newgarden — but more back-of-the-field cars had built up in front of Robb.

With five to go, Palou finally made the pass on Robb, with Newgarden following soon after, then Scott Dixon.

But as the final lap got underway, Newgarden began to lose performance, allowing Palou to build up a gap and Dixon to make a pass for second.

Reigning champion Alex Palou has taken his first victory of the 2025 season — perhaps mounting a challenge for his fourth championship title.