THERMAL, Calif. (No. March 23, 2025) -- High temperatures in The Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix tested the durability of the drivers and their Firestone tires.
The unusually hot weather caused issues for the hybrid assist unit which affected both engine manufacturers but not all teams. In the Foyt team's case, it didn't work so the drivers weren't able to take advantage of the additional horsepower produced through the recapture of kinetic energy under braking.
It was the first time that the unit faced such high temperatures whether it be in testing or race conditions. In the cases of Santino Ferrucci and his teammate David Malukas, the bigger issues centered on the handling of the cars on the primary tires versus the alternate ("red") tires.
Ferrucci and race engineer Mike Armbrester chat after the race.
“It was honestly a really good race on our red tire runs," Ferrucci said. "It was a bit of a bummer to lose the hybrid due to heat soak. But I don't think we were the only one struggling with something like that. Just our prime tire run, we didn't account for the balance being as badly shifted as it was, and we kind of missed the strategy just a little bit, but overall, it wasn't a terrible day. Could have been worse.”
The number 14 figured largely in Ferrucci's weekend. Missing out on transferring to the top 12 by just two thousandths of second in yesterday's qualifying, he started 14th. After several on track battles, he finished 14th in the No. 14 Sexton Properties Chevrolet.
Ferrucci tries to stay cool before the race under the umbrella held by crewman Jeremy Villarde who changes the inside front tire on the No. 14.
Malukas, who started 12th after transferring to the second round of qualifying yesterday, used two sets of the alternate (red-rimmed) tires to do so. In the race, he made his way into eighth position during his "red tire" stint in the beginning of the 65-lap event. However, when it came time to put the new sets of primary tires on, the car did not handle as well and he dropped back, finally finishing 18th.
Malukas tries to explain the car's handling after the race to race engineer James Schnabel (L) and performance engineer Collin Hendershot.
“It was a tough race," Malukas said. "We knew it was going to be tough going into it, and it was almost a little bit of a curse, making it to Q2 and using up our reds because to everybody’s [surprise], the Reds [alternate tires] ended up being the better tire by quite a big margin. And we only had one new Red set when everybody around us had two. Everybody kind of filtered out from there on. So made it to P8 on the new Reds, and from there, it was just survival, holding on. We came out with a P18 in the end. So really rough race. Definitely a weekend to forget and move on to Long Beach.”
The Thermal Club provided beautiful backdrops for the grand prix in southern California.
One driver not seemingly affected by the high temperatures was reigning champion Alex Palou who captured his second straight victory after starting third. He won by ten seconds over runner-up and pole winner Pato O'Ward. Trailing O'Ward was his teammate Christian Lundgaard. Rounding out the top five Colton Herta and Felix Rosenqvist.
The next race on the NTT INDYCAR schedule is the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach to be broadcast by FOX on Sunday, April 13th starting at 4:30 p.m. ET.
