IndyCar's latest push-to-pass rule change was meant to clear up confusion, but instead, it's sparked a fierce debate—and left some of the series' top drivers scratching their heads.
On Tuesday, IndyCar announced that drivers can now use push-to-pass—a 60-horsepower boost available for up to 200 seconds on road and street courses—during restarts, a move previously forbidden. The boost still can't be used at the start of a race, and drivers must cross the alternate start-finish line before activating it on restarts.
This midseason tweak follows a messy situation at April's Grand Prix of Long Beach, where a timing error allowed 12 of 24 drivers to illegally use push-to-pass on a Lap 62 restart. Instead of penalizing half the field, IndyCar decided to legalize the move starting this weekend.
But the change comes with a catch. IndyCar Officiating, in its first season as an independent body, also announced a "responsibility update" that shifts the burden to drivers. According to a news release, IndyCar will now "place the burden on competitors to ensure Push to Pass is not used at restricted times." The series will update its Controller Area Network (CAN) to send individual messages and add a software engineer to monitor CAN messages and push-to-pass usage in real time.
During Thursday's news conference ahead of the Sonsio Grand Prix, the top five drivers in the standings—Alex Palou, Kyle Kirkwood, David Malukas, Pato O'Ward, and Christian Lundgaard—admitted they were still confused about the new rules.
"If IndyCar (expletives) up again and I press the button, I get penalized?" asked Palou, who won at Long Beach after being one of the 12 drivers who used push-to-pass illegally.
The four-time champion, who hadn't heard about the responsibility update, wasn't thrilled with the idea of drivers bearing the consequences of IndyCar's mistakes.
"If we press it and it works because someone else does a mistake, we get penalized?" he questioned.
This ethical dilemma has divided the paddock. On one hand, drivers want clarity and consistency. On the other, they argue that if the system allows an illegal move, the fault lies with the technology—not the competitor pressing the button. As the series heads into the weekend, all eyes will be on how this rule plays out on track, and whether it creates more drama than it solves.