Pato O'Ward gives brutal review of 'boring and crap' Indy 500 with an apology to fans
IndyCar star Pato O'Ward pulled no punches while reviewing the 109th Indy 500. The Arrow McLaren driver bluntly labeled the latest edition of the Greatest Spectacle of Racing the 'worst' Indy 500 he's been a part of.
Reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou won the race by holding off Marcus Ericsson, whom he passed with 15 laps left. The Spaniard made his older tires and relatively empty fuel tank work to take his first Indy 500 win and his fifth win in six races this season.
O'Ward, who started on the outside of the front row in third place, finished a spot lower, in fourth. He was eventually bumped to third after IndyCar announced post-race penalties, with runner-up Marcus Ericsson being pushed to the back of the grid.
O'Ward's biggest complaint with the race was how 'boring' it felt. He expected there to be close competition for the win, like he had with Josef Newgarden in 2024, albeit in a losing cause.
"I'm not going to band-aid this. This was the worst Indy 500 I've ever been a part of," O'Ward said. "What a boring race. What a crap race. Pathetic restarts. I feel bad for the sellout of the fans, everybody that came here would've loved to see a finish like last year. But no, they were looking at the last place making switches and the leader just kind of chilling there."
The 109th Indy 500 witnessed the first sellout with over 350,000 fans in attendance. The last time this happened was the 100th running of the race in 2016, which rookie Alexander Rossi won.
The 2025 edition had a total of 483 passes, including 394 for position, and 22 lead changes among 14 drivers. The stats don't make the case for the race to be called 'boring', despite the heavier hybrid-powered cars being one of the reasons for relatively less action.
Pato O'Ward's blunt declaration about Marcus Ericsson 'choking' in the final showdown with Alex Palou
Pato O'Ward accused Marcus Ericsson of 'choking' in the final laps of the Indy 500 and not being able to defend the race lead against Alex Palou. Moreover, Ericsson had fresher tires and more fuel in the tank to get the lead back, but couldn't make the pass.
In a post-race interview, O'Ward said:
"It just kind of sucks that it just went down to the switcheroo for the last position of the race. And Ericsson kind of choked there and let Palou by, and just kind of, he just had to pedal it there. I don't think it's the finish that anybody here would have wanted to see."
Pato O'Ward's comments weren't received well by a chunk of fans because he has two runner-up finishes at the Indy 500 - 2022 when Ericsson won and 2024 when Josef Newgarden won. He also crashed in 2023 while attempting to pass Ericsson for third position.
Going into the Detroit Grand Prix from May 30 to June 1, Alex Palou leads the IndyCar championship by 112 points over second-placed Pato O'Ward.