We thought F1 was bad: INDYCAR drivers rage over crazy rules: 'If INDYCAR f*** up again, I'm penalised?'

IndyCar

We thought F1 was bad: INDYCAR drivers rage over crazy rules: 'If INDYCAR f*** up again, I'm penalised?'

The drivers are not too happy

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Friday 8 May 2026 22:56 Updated: 10:38

An IndyCar rule change has confused all involved, including the drivers, as the American series goes through an update to a long-standing rule.

IndyCar has been using so-called 'push-to-pass' since 2009, and this year, the button on the drivers' steering wheel gives them an extra 60 horsepower boost for up to 200 seconds per road and street courses.

However, they have not been allowed to use it on race restarts, which caused a controversial incident at the Grand Prix of Long Beach, where drivers were given access to push-to-pass on a Lap 62 restart when they weren’t supposed to be.

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12 drivers utilised this mistake from the racing series, and they then named the drivers, before revealing that if such an incident happens again, then drivers will be punished for it.

This sent four-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou into a spiral in a recent press conference which included the top-five in the current IndyCar standings.

"If IndyCar f**** up again and I press the button, I get penalised?", Palou asked having been one of the 12 drivers who had used the button when he wasn't supposed to at Long Beach.

"If we press it and it works because someone else does a mistake, we get penalised?", the Spaniard continued, before his rival Christian Lundgaard replied: "Yeah, because you’re not supposed to be able to use it until the alt start-finish."

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IndyCar change push-to-pass rule

Despite the surprise of Palou about the rule, earlier this week, IndyCar announced a change to the rule, meaning that push-to-pass can now be used on race restarts. When the squabbling drivers were told this, the conversation switched more onto who was to blame for using the button when it wasn't allowed.

Palou actually won April's race, and used his push-to-pass for 15.1 seconds when he wasn't supposed to, the second largest amount of time of all the offending drivers.

"I pressed it three times, and I’m surprised I didn’t press it more," Palou said. "I’m very surprised, as well, that they pinpointed every single car that used it when it was not our fault, it was IndyCar’s fault."

His rival Kyle Kirkwood then said: "Alright, let’s set the record straight, everybody would have used if they’d known it was active. Every driver would have. I wish I would have known it was on, because I would’ve used it."

McLaren's Pato O’Ward then said: "False! I got told... No, I did not use it."

Kirkwood replied: "Why? You were told it was on," to which O'Ward rather proudly stated: "Well because you know the rule, man."

IndyCar Alex Palou