INDIANAPOLIS – After Alex Palou and Pato O’Ward qualified on the front row of Saturday’s Sonsio Grand Prix, the drivers got into another public spat over IndyCar’s push to pass rules and whether Palou was right to use it on a restart at April’s Grand Prix of Long Beach.
After Long Beach, Palou was one of 12 drivers who were found to have illegally used push to pass on a Lap 61 restart, while O’Ward wasn’t. IndyCar went on to change the rule, allowing push to pass usage after crossing the alternate start-finish line on restarts, but not at the beginning of the race.
On Thursday, Palou, O’Ward and Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood disputed the new rule, which now also places the burden on drivers to use push to pass at the right time, is sufficient and if Palou was right to use it in Long Beach. Kirkwood also questioned whether Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing team and Meyer Shank Racing — who have a technical alliance with each other — had an “indicator” that push to pass was accidentally enabled in Long Beach.
When asked Saturday if they received clarity on the rule in the past two days, another back-and-forth developed between the two drivers, who led the IndyCar standings in 2025.
Palou: “You were saying it’s a rule.”
O’Ward: “The problem was that it wasn’t a rule.”
Palou: “Correct, but you were saying it was a rule.”
O’Ward: “Yeah, I think it was more of like a gentleman’s agreement.”
Palou: “What?”
O’Ward: “Like, come on, you knew.”
Palou: “What did I know? That it was not enabled? Not that you could not use it, oh it’s not enabled, that’s it. End of the story, ‘gentleman’s agreement.'”
O’Ward: “No but you knew that we could only use it…”
Palou: “No, I knew that it was not enabled, end of the story. If it is enabled because someone else does a mistake…”
O’Ward: “No, no, no. The reason why people didn’t get penalized is because the screw up was…”
Palou: “So there was no rule?”
O’Ward: “No, you went into the grey area and got away with it.”
Palou: “Grey area?”
O’Ward: “Yeah.”
Palou: “What did the rule say? It’s not gonna be enabled on restarts.”
O’Ward: “No, the problem was the rule didn’t say anything.”
Palou: “So it’s not a grey area!”
O’Ward: “Yes! How? Because at the end of the day, (it) was the same action that Josef (Newgarden) got crucified (for).”
Palou: “It was not Josef’s fault, it was the team’s fault. If the team is cheating, it’s not because of the driver.”
O’Ward: “What do you mean?”
Palou: “Both the drivers did nothing wrong.”
O’Ward: “If you know you’re using it when no one else is using it…”
Palou: “I always press it.”
O’Ward: “What! Why, in case it works?”
Palou: “Yes.”
O’Ward: “I mean, maybe that’s why I’m not winning races. Honestly, the rule was not specific, that’s the problem.”
Palou’s pit stop beat out Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist to take the lead before the restart in Long Beach. Palou used it for 15.1 seconds, as Rosenqvist (18.5 seconds) was the lone driver to use it longer.
“If Rosenqvist overtakes me and I lose a win, it’s like, ‘Oh, we’re very sorry, we’re gonna change the rule now?’” Palou said Thursday.
Palou felt the situation at Long Beach was different from the 2024 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg when Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin were disqualified from the race weeks later for illegal use of push to pass. Newgarden was stripped of a win that was given to O’Ward.
“It’s very different to what happened two years ago, where someone changed the code,” Palou said. “We’re talking about someone not pressing the button (or) pressing the button. And it’s not on us to know if it’s active or not.”
Zion Brown is IndyStar’s motorsports reporter. Follow him at @z10nbr0wn. Get IndyStar’s motor sports coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Motor Sports newsletter. Subscribe to the YouTube channel IndyStar TV: IndyCar for a behind-the-scenes look at IndyCar and expert analysis.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Alex Palou, Pato O’Ward spar again over push to pass use in IndyCar
Reporting by Zion Brown, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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