The historic month of May has approached with the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 less than a few weeks away. In the build-up to the crown jewel, the drivers faced the Indianapolis road course for the Sonsio Grand Prix. Christian Lundgaard sealed his first victory since 2023, with David Malukas and Graham Rahal both adding a further trophy to his cabinet.
Lundgaard ends Arrow McLaren drought in Sonsio
Christian Lundgaard joined Arrow McLaren in 2025, where he finished fifth in the standings – his career-best – and claimed five podiums in his maiden season with Papaya. With three podiums to his name in 2026, Lundgaard aimed for one better, a second victory trophy in his cabinet.
The month of May fast approached with 85 laps around the Indianapolis road course. Lundgaard sealed fourth position in qualifying, but a perfect pit stop, strategy and a composed drive led the Dane to victory. After an incredible outside overtake on David Malukas with 18 laps to spare, the 24-year-old built up a steady gap, taking the chequered flag four seconds ahead.
“Wild. It was a long day out there,â Lundgaard said, reflecting on the race.
The opening lap saw chaos erupt as a first lap carmabolage hindered several drivers, one of which was his teammate Pato OâWard. Felix Rosenqvist locked up and ran into the rear of OâWard, which sent him spinning and caused a chain reaction of events.
âIt’s just so unfortunate in the beginning at the start of the race. I was so bummed for Pato because I think we had a really good plan for us as a team [for] how we were going to attack the day.
âJust is so unfortunate for him,â Lundgaard added.
âObviously, we had two cars in the top four, which gave us a good chance at least with one car, and how the strategy just happened to play out gave us the best chance. Obviously, the pass on both Graham [Rahal] and [David] Malukas was really the deciders today.“
Lundgaard closed the gap in the standings to just three points separating himself and Malukas in third.
A tale of two halves for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Team
Vetern driver Rahal sealed his last podium finish in 2023, but a statement drive in Barber ended his 960-day drought. To further the achievement, Rahal remained composed under pressure to grab his second podium of 2026 in Indianapolis.
“Yeah, it was a good day for the team!” Rahal praised.
“Louis finished seventh which is his career best career best.
“I mean, obviously we’d like to have won, I feel like I’ve been close here so much. But it still feels good to get a podium, another top five here on this track. For whatever reason, the team just excels here.
“I guess I do tooâbut I really give tip of the cap to them. We’ve got to get a little better. The rear was a struggle today, but it’s all right. We keep fighting,” he concluded.
Foster and Schumacher
His teammate, Louis Foster also secured his career best finish in seventh after his most successful weekend in IndyCar yet. The Britian placed his No.45 Honda into the Fast 6, while he wasn’t able to battle it out for pole, a sixth starting position was something to be proud of. He steered clear of the chaos to take the chequered flag in seventh, bettering his finishing position from last season which was 11th.
The third car in the RLL garage, piloted by Mick Schumacher, had a disastrous race day. A lacklustre 18th starting position looked redeemable as the German rookie worked his way through the pack to begin fighting for a place in the Top 12.
However, he dropped after a costly mistake caused him to hit the back of Santino Ferrucci’s car, where he subsequently spun out. Though he was able to continue running in 11th, a drive-through penalty sent him to the rear of the field.
Drivers feud over differing push-to-pass opinions
While on-track action was exciting, off-track conflict between several drivers occurred, with Alex Palou and OâWardâs dispute hitting a boiling point in the post-race press conference.
In 2024, the IndyCar world was rocked by the scandal involving Team Penske – primarily Josef Newgardenâs garage – and their use of push-to-pass on the St.Petersburg race restart, an action which is prohibited. Following the investigation, he was disqualified from the race. Fast forward two years, and the situation was repeated, this time involving 12 drivers, one of whom was five-time IndyCar champion Palou.
Subsequently, IndyCar announced they were changing the rules, with push-to-pass to be enabled during race starts, but not at the beginning of the race. The rule change now places the compliance on the drivers; in the official IndyCar document, it stated it will âplace the burden on competitors to ensure Push to Pass is not used at restricted times.â
This caused an ethical uproar in the paddock, with a public dispute between Palou, Kyle Kirkwood and OâWard during Thursdayâs press conference. After initial confusion about the rule change, a debate ensued regarding whether using push-to-pass illegally in Long Beach was merited, as IndyCar gave drivers the option.
The argument was reignited during Saturdayâs post-qualifying conferences, where a reporter asked the drivers if they had received clarity on the revised push-to-pass rules.
Press Conference Feud
Here is how the spat unfolded during the conference:
OâWard: I mean, I think they clarified what action is going to get taken in case it is, like, happy pushed, but I donât think thereâs really a scenario where it can be anymore, because itâs probably just going to be on all the time. So, yeah, I canât wait for the scenario where itâs, like, oh, someone had Push-to-Pass in the start, but who knows (laughing).
The moderator: It would be pretty rare for sure, right?
Palou: Yeah, I mean, I stillâ
OâWard: Itâs going to be today (laughing).
Palou: No, no, I mean, that would be good for me, so I can tuck behind him and just get towed up. No, itâs clear now, but you were saying itâs a rule. You know youâ
OâWard: The problem was it wasnât a rule.
Palou: Correct, but you were saying it was the rule.
O’Ward: Yeah, I think it was more of like a gentleman’s agreement. 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: 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. 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
OâWard: I mean, maybe that’s why I’m not winning races. Honestly, the rule was not specific, that’s the problem.
Ed Carpenter drivers leave Indianapolis in dismay
Saturday ended in heartbreak for Ed Carpenter Racing Team as both its drivers were forced to retire early, as the pair finished at the bottom of the classifications.
A disappointing qualifying session saw Christian Rasmussen place his car in 19th, while Alexander Rossi started in 13th, frustratingly missing advancement by only 0.01 seconds. As the race began, Rasmussen was involved in the domino effect, with the Dane suffering from front-wing damage. He went into pit road, but the team decided to retire the car, though after a caution was brought out on Lap 33, the team opted to send him back out. When Rasmussen returned to the track, he was significantly behind the field, with the team ordering the car to retire once more.
Rossiâs side of the garage didnât fare much better as a hybrid issue on Lap 21 caused his No.20 car to halt on the Brickyard straight. Rossi was left sitting idle on the track, with cars passing him at 170mph as IndyCar didnât throw a caution.
Rossi’s Frustration
Frustrated, Rossi climbed out ot the car onto the track and walked to his garage. In an interview with FOX, the Californian expressed his annoyance with both the hybrid system and the lack of urgency from IndyCar to neutralise the race.
âItâs pretty annoying to have failures on the car because of a product we didn’t ask for that doesn’t improve the racing,â Rossi said.
âSo that’s frustrating.”
“Second of all, the fact that it took that long to throw a full course caution when the cars on the front straight were going by at 170 miles an hour also seems insane when they don’t let us drive in the wet yesterday,â he added.
âSo, I don’t really know where the priorities lie. So, pretty frustrated.â
IndyCar released a statement following the incident with the officials saying: “Following every race weekend, IndyCar Officiating thoroughly reviews and evaluates all procedures and processes. This will include the incidents involving debris and car No. 20 during todayâs race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.”
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IndyCar returns May 24th for the Indy 500. A two-day qualifying session on 16-17th of May will determine who will lead the pack to green.
Featured Image: James Black, IndyCar