Java House Indycar Grand Prix of Monterey - Palou Perfect
It's not every day you witness a generational talent in action. While the IndyCar grid is stacked with previous series champions and Indy 500 winners, watching Alex Palou dominate yet another weekend as he carves his place in motorsport history is truly something special. After that, it's all about location, location, location. What a place to see IndyCar. WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca has been a motorsport chemistry lab that over the decades has brewed up some of the greatest moments and performances in motorsport. Winning at any/all other venues is helpful, but winning, let alone complete domination, at Laguna Seca is a whole other thing. The track is always fast, challenging on all levels, and usually brings out the sharpest of competitor’s elbows, no matter what series you’re watching. There’s just something about the place that brings out the best in every driver.
We’re lucky enough to live just a few short hours away from the track, so yet again it was time for us to descend on the fabled Laguna Seca to check out the spectacular weather and a great atmosphere of an Indycar race weekend.
The view from the world famous Corkscrew looking out on to Monterey Bay. Perfect weather and race cars.
Heading into the Java House IndyCar Grand Prix of Monterey, the 2025 season has been defined by Álex Palou’s dominant form. He opened with a win in St. Petersburg, went on to claim victories at Barber, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, Road America, and notably a win at some big shindig at a little track in Indiana. Palou is firmly establishing himself as the title favorite. Despite strong competition from series veterans and champions, Palou consistently outpaced the field, including teammate Scott Dixon, a 6 time Indycar Driver’s title champ, 2008 Indy 500 victor, who also has 3 24 Hours of Daytona wins and 2 Petit Le Mans victories . Pato O’Ward has emerged as Palou’s closest rival this year, securing two wins this month, at Iowa and a week later, another late-season triumph in Toronto, where Palou faltered with a 12th-place finish, narrowing the championship gap to 99 points with four races remaining. Palou arrived in Monterey with momentum and clear focus to get his hands on the 2025 championship trophy, the Astor Challenge Cup.
By the time the weekend was over Palou would capture pole position in Saturday qualifying and dominated for the win on Sunday. Funny enough, we looked back at our article last year when IndyCar came to town and noted that Palou has accomplished so much but had yet to win the Indy 500. That was corrected this year at the 109th running as he became the first-ever Spaniard to win. Not bad considering his first IndyCar race was in May of 2020.
From the drop of the green flag, it was all Álex Palou. The Chip Ganassi Racing ace delivered a clinic on consistency and control, leading 84 of 95 laps en route to his eighth win of the season. Starting from pole, he managed every restart, navigated every strategy call, and never put a wheel wrong — even under the pressure of five race cautions that repeatedly erased his lead.
This win wasn’t just another trophy for Palou. It positioned him a massive 121 points clear in the championship, with only three races remaining. Barring a miracle from his rivals, the Spaniard is on course for his fourth title in five seasons.
A fan favorite and livery of the weekend of the Meyer Shank Racing's #60 SiriusXM Honda, driven by Felix Rosenqvist, sporting a Grateful Dead-themed livery
A Battle for Second
While Palou ran his own race from out front, the real fight was for second. Christian Lundgaard, showed steel by fending off local hero Colton Herta in a tense late-race duel. The two swapped tenths of a second lap after lap, with Lundgaard ultimately holding P2 — his best finish of the season.
Colton Herta, racing for Andretti Global, took third in front of his California home crowd, extending a streak of strong results as the team continues its steady resurgence.
Standouts, Shakeups, & Strategy
Behind the podium, Pato O’Ward and Scott Dixon rounded out the top five. Both executed clean, calculated races that helped solidify their teams’ championship aspirations. For Dixon, it was a steady effort that kept Ganassi’s 2025 momentum rolling and continues to demonstrate that Dixon is consistently within reach of a podium
Further back, Callum Ilott made waves by charging from 24th to 6th, a stunning drive and a career-best for the Prema Racing team. Meanwhile, rookie Louis Foster turned heads by pacing early before a mistake dropped him to 17th.
Cautions & Chaos
The race was punctuated by five cautions, most notably a Lap 1 collision involving Kyffin Simpson and Felix Rosenqvist. Later, rookie Jacob Abel brought out the reds after slamming into the tire wall, ending his day early. Yet, through every yellow flag and pit cycle, Palou never blinked.
The Big Picture
As the checkered flag fell, it became clear: 2025 is Palou’s year. Eight wins in 14 races, only two wins away from the record of 10 wins in a season held by legends A.J. Foyt (1964) and Al Unser (1970).
Arrow McLaren’s double-top-four result marked a high point in their evolution, with Pato O’Ward statistically the only driver who can challenge Palou for the championship with three races remaining in the 2025 season. Although O’Ward would need to be absolutely perfect over those three races, and Palou would need to fall way off for the inevitable not to be the inevitable. It will be his fourth championship and his third in a row. With four championships, he would be the 6th driver in Indy car racing history with four or more championships with A.J. Foyt, Scott Dixon, Mario Andretti, Sebastien Bourdais and Dario Franchitti. At 27 years old, and at the peak of his dominance, he is a realistic challenger for A.J Foyt’s record of 7 championships.
As always, we caution that our words don’t do as much justice to any event than our pictures do. That said, please take a look at our mega gallery below to fill in any blanks our prose has left.
-The Loud Pedal
