Pato O'Ward honors Alex Palou with special message at 2025 IndyCar awards ceremony

Pato O'Ward honored four-time and reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou with a message of respect at the 2025 IndyCar awards ceremony. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver embodied dominance this season, with eight wins in 17 races, including a magnificent victory at the 109th Indy 500.

Palou wrapped up the championship at Portland, with two races remaining in the season, a rare feat in the hyper-competitive world of IndyCar. He broke several records en route to winning his third consecutive and fourth overall title, matching Mario Andretti, Sebastian Bourdais, and Dario Franchitti in the all-time championship tally list.

On Tuesday (September 16), the Spaniard was the center of attention at the 2025 IndyCar Victory Lap Championship Celebration, aka the awards ceremony. Pato O'Ward, who finished runner-up to Alex Palou in the championship, took the stage at one point to speak about his standout season with Arrow McLaren.

While thanking his McLaren squad, O'Ward drifted into complimenting Chip Ganassi Racing and Palou on their historic season.

"These guys at Chip Ganassi Racing, Alex in your number 10, you guys raise the bar again and again and again, and everyone is obviously chasing that. So hopefully next year, we can make you sweat a little bit more because I think this year was just way too easy for you," the Mexican driver said via IndyCar on YouTube. [49:44 onwards]

"But it really is amazing to witness, obviously, something that isn't normal. You all took the big cake this year. You took the (Indy) 500, you took the championship. But I'm very proud to be part of IndyCar, proud to be part of a group of drivers, you know, we all respect each other, and we all love going racing," O'Ward added.

Similar to Alex Palou, Pato O'Ward had a career-best IndyCar season in 2025. He finished on the podium six times, including two victories in Toronto and Iowa.

Pato O'Ward had only one goal for the 2025 IndyCar season that got "crushed" in Portland

Pato O'Ward's car undergoing repairs on pit road at the 2025 IndyCar Grand Prix of Portland - Source: Getty

Pato O'Ward was on the run to achieve a rare IndyCar feat in 2025. The Arrow McLaren driver had completed all laps in all the races up until the Grand Prix of Portland and was the only one on the 27-driver grid to do so. Very few drivers in the series' history had a 100% lap completion rate in a given season.

Unfortunately, the No. 5 Chevrolet driver suffered a mechanical issue on a lap 21 restart in Portland, with the DI Box malfunctioning. Arrow McLaren called O'Ward into the pits for repairs, and by the time he was sent out on the track, he was 10 laps down.

At the IndyCar awards ceremony, Pato O'Ward spoke about that gut-wrenching moment, which not only ended his pursuit of the rare statistic but also gave Alex Palou the championship win in Portland.

"My goal at the start of the year was to finish every lap, every single lap in every race. I know my dreams were crushed in Portland when I wasn't able to finish that. But otherwise, it was a year where we capitalized on good opportunities. Obviously (there are) areas where we still need to make better to give these guys (CGR and Palou) a good run," the Arrow McLaren driver said.

Arrow McLaren had a historic run in the 2025 IndyCar season. The team secured 12 podiums, with O'Ward and Christian Lundgaard earning six each, to register the team's best year in the premier American open-wheel racing series.