Will Buxton shares message about 'top-tier' Thermal Club race after it received severe Indycar fan backlash
IndyCar's 2025 Thermal Club Grand Prix received immense negativity for a plethora of reasons. In light of everything that transpired, former F1 turned IndyCar pundit, Will Buxton, recently gave his thoughts on the matter.
From the event being run in an exclusive fashion to the FOX coverage loss during the main 65-lap race, the Thermal Club Grand Prix received a lot of stick from the fans.
One week after the inaugural edition of the event, Will Buxton posted a detailed message via his official X account. He wrote:
"One week on from Thermal, I’m reminded again of the high bar Indycar has for what’s considered a good race. Huge questions asked about the track and whether we’d get a single pass, but it actually delivered a race! With lots of overtaking! From where I’ve come from, that qualifies as an automatic top tier contest and one which would be lauded as such. Buxton wrote.
The 44-year-old further added:
"I get the issues over accessibility, the disconnect and dissonance of racing at a private venue, but also I’m sad that the race itself seemed to be written off before we even rolled to green and wasn’t given a chance to prove the doubters wrong. Because we actually got a race."
The 2025 Thermal Club Grand Prix was a fascinating watch. From start to finish, the main race produced thrilling action between the 27 drivers. Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward and Christian Lundgaard were the early favorites for the win, but the reigning world champion, Alex Palou, managed to get the better of both of them to secure his second consecutive victory of 2025.
Alex Palou was upbeat post second IndyCar victory of 2025
While Will Buxton has come with a detailed view on everything that happened during IndyCar's 2025 Thermal Club Grand Prix, Alex Palou proved himself as the star of the event.
Palou, in his #10 Chip Ganassi Racing car, was fired up from the get-go in the 65-lap race and did not put even a single foot wrong. Understandably, he was pleased with his win at Thermal Club ahead of the Arrow McLaren drivers, and in line with this, he had the following to add in his post-race interview:
"What an amazing weekend. We had a really fast car since practice, and everybody at Chip Ganassi Racing on the 10 car executed perfectly. We knew it was aggressive to start with the used reds (alternate tires), and we knew that we were looking toward the end of the race with that 10 car, and we did it." Palou said via IndyCar.
The ongoing 17-race campaign is two races down, and Palou is currently leading the drivers' championship handsomely with 102 points. Next up on the race calendar is Round 3, the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. It will take place from April 11 onwards, with the main race slated to take place on April 13.
Keeping in view that Palou has amassed two consecutive victories heading into the Long Beach event, he will be one of the drivers the IndyCar fans will have their eyes on at Long Beach.