The fifth round of the 2025 IndyCar Season took place last weekend with the Sonsio Grand Prix. While Alex Palou notched up yet another victory, it was still a fascinating race with plenty of juicy talking points to delve into once the race came to end. From resurgent teams to outstanding drives and the first caution flag in 408 laps, there was more to this Grand Prix than you might think. Here’s what you need to know.
Palou’s Domination Continues
Another Grand Prix, another Alex Palou victory. But the story is not as simple as that. Despite claiming Pole Position ahead of the race, it was RHLL’s Graham Rahal who snatched the lead away from the Spaniard once the lights went out. Many expected Palou to waltz past the American but it came a lot later than anticipated.
Why was this? Strategy certainly played a part as RHLL fumbled the ball slightly. But Chip Ganassi Racing also had to ensure that they kept up their imperious form when their driver needed it. Deliver they did, and despite the new tyre rules for the weekend (both compounds had to be used twice and drivers had to pit at least three times), their performance in the pitlane was as smooth as a tiger in a tuxedo.
Palou is also a master of patience in the car. He waited until just the right time and then moved past Rahal. After this he managed the gap to those behind. Even the caution flag that bunched up the field couldn’t force the Spaniard into a mistake. With only a handful of laps left, he still managed to eek out a gap of over five seconds to O’Ward in second.
The rest of the field will need to deliver something special if they hope to beat him in the Indy 500.
Positive Momentum at RHLL
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing had an outrageously good weekend. The Sonsio Grand Prix marked the first time that all three drivers made it into the fast six in qualifying. Graham Rahal qualified in second with rookie Louis Foster in third and Devlin Defrancesco in sixth.
In almost any other Grand Prix, their race results would have been applauded even more than they were this time out. While it wasn’t expected for them to finish where they started, there were certainly times where it didn’t look outside the realm of possibility. Rahal took the lead away from Palou almost immediately and both Foster and Defrancesco were running comfortably inside the top ten for a while.
Strategy hampered the team, as did the stronger pace of others behind them. Palou finally got past Rahal on lap fifty eight and the American kept dropping back from there. He finished in sixth. Foster finished in eleventh (his best result of the season so far) and Defrancesco slipped down to seventeenth. Despite this, it was still a great weekend for the outfit and exactly what we want to see from them moving forwards.
Team Penske are Returning to Form
By their own standards, Team Penske have had a frustrating start to the season. But things seemed to be turning around for them last time out in Alabama. This weekend in Indianapolis, they continued on that positive trajectory.
Will Power claimed his first podium of the season with a remarkable third place finish after starting in seventh. Scott McLaughlin was just behind him in fourth and Josef Newgarden had to settle for twelfth.
Newgarden however has done infamously well at the Indy 500, having won in 2023 and 2024. His teammates haven’t had the best luck in those two years. But with this turn of fortunes, nothing to lose and everything to gain – such as propelling all of them back into serious Championship contention – all three drivers will be hungrier than ever next time out.
Winners and Losers: IndyCar Alabama Grand Prix
Scott Dixon is a Contender – Maybe
Scott Dixon is an established IndyCar legend. In 2025 though, he’s became both an absolute joy and a frustration to watch. In qualifying this year, he performs terribly, only for his impeccable race craft to allow him to expertly navigate his way through the field into smirk inducingly high positions by the end of the race. At the Sonsio Grand Prix, it was no different.
Qualifying placed him down in sixteenth place. But by doing Scott Dixon things, the New Zealander carved a place up to fifth place by the time he got to the end of the race. With such an impressive performance that he’s repeated at every Grand Prix so far this year, it leaves everyone contemplating what might have been possible had he started higher on the grid.
In St. Petersburg when he finished in second to Palou, he was less than five seconds behind him and kept Palou honest for the duration – and he started sixth that day. Scott Dixon might be the man to beat Alex Palou this year. We just need him to sort his qualifying out.
Rebounds Aplenty – except for Andretti Global
Elsewhere, Pato O’Ward bounced back from a couple of less than satisfactory results with a second place finish this time out. He started in eighth and was able to challenge Palou briefly for the lead after the caution flag towards the end of the race. But the Mexican wasn’t able to get past him on this occasion. Instead, he equalled his best result of the year, which he first achieved back at Thermal Club.
Marcus Armstrong also had a strong race as he started in fifteenth and finished in seventh for Meyer Shank Racing. Rinus Veekay took after him and Scott Dixon in terms of performance. The Dutch driver started down in twenty fourth but ended the race in an incredible ninth place. Dayle Coyne Racing will be very happy with him for that and other teams on the grid will surely be keeping an eye on him as the season progresses.
On the other end of the spectrum, Andretti Global had a shocking weekend. Two DNFS for Herta and Ericsson didn’t do them any favours. Kirkwood’s atrocious qualifying didn’t help either. He could only rise as high as eighth by the end of the race – an impressive rise but another case of what if?
The Sonsio Grand Prix delivered in many ways but the question remains – who can beat Alex Palou?
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Feature Image: IndyCar Media Centre
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