IndyCar changes the push-to-pass rule

It was necessary thatIndyCar Officiating, the new independent body in charge of the championship's sporting and technical regulations, is making decisions following the software bug affecting the push-to-pass button, which allows drivers to benefit from a power boost for a limited time during each race on the championship's road and street circuits. While many called for transparency regarding the fraudulent use of the device in Long Beach, California, IndyCar responded by providing all the necessary answers and simplifying its regulations to prevent similar problems in the future.

During the only restart of the race, following a caution period, the push-to-pass system was available to the entire field on the restart lap, even though regulations previously prohibited its use before the end of the first flying lap after the restart. Twelve of the 24 drivers still in the race at that point used the push-to-pass system, but IndyCar decided not to penalize anyone, given that the problem originated on their end.

With the sixth round of the championship at Indianapolis approaching this weekend, IndyCar has released the list of the twelve drivers who used push-to-pass during the restart on lap 62. Among them, the race winner, Álex Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing), was one of the most frequent users, with three uses totaling 15,1 seconds. Only Felix Rosenqvist (Meyer Shank Racing) used push-to-pass for longer, 18,5 seconds on the restart lap. As previously reported, Marcus Armstrong (Meyer Shank Racing) overtook Santino Ferrucci (AJ Foyt Racing) by using the device, but the published data shows that the American ultimately used seven seconds of push-to-pass, compared to 6,3 for his New Zealand counterpart.

Despite his earlier claims to the contrary, Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) was indeed among the drivers who pressed the button… but for a total of zero seconds! It is therefore quite possible that the American driver's finger simply slipped… Heavily targeted after his involvement in the Team Penske scandal in 2024, which led to his disqualification after winning the first race of the season, Josef Newgarden was not implicated this time, unlike his teammates Scott McLaughlin and David Malukas.

To counter this, IndyCar has added a clause to its regulations stating that, even in the event of a computer glitch like the one that occurred, teams and drivers will be held responsible for any fraudulent use of the push-to-pass system. To keep the situation under control, it was decided to slightly relax the rules governing the use of the device, which will still be prohibited on the first lap of the race, but will then be permitted under green flag conditions for the remainder of the race, including the first lap after a restart.

"The push-to-pass issue we saw in Long Beach allowed IndyCar to completely review the rules of the system and consider improvements, including the possibility of leaving push-to-pass available on restarts.""The new regulations will come into effect this weekend in Indianapolis," explained Doug Boles, president of IndyCar. As has been the case for over a decade now, push-to-pass is only available on road courses and street circuits, not on ovals.

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