"I won because he had a scandal": Pato O'Ward takes playful jab at Josef Newgarden in newly-shared St. Petersburg 2025 vlog

The 2025 St. Petersburg Grand Prix panned out to be an extremely exciting race. While the on-track show was brilliant, there was a hilarious off-track moment between Pato O'Ward and Josef Newgarden that has recently been dropped by the Mexican on his YouTube channel.

Last year, Josef Newgarden was the original winner of the St. Petersburg race but he was disqualified for a push-to-pass infringement, and thid led to Pato O'Ward being crowned as the ultimate victor.

Regarding this, the Mexican took a playful jab at Newgarden ahead of their helmet swap in St. Petersburg. This was included in the vlog O'Ward shared on his YouTube channel. Here, he could be heard saying:

"Got a surprise for you all, Josef and I this time last year, we were, well, battling for the win here in St.Pete. I ended up winning because he had a scandal, so we're trading helmets. We should be swapping trophies, but we already did that. So I'm giving him St. Pete winner 2024, and he's going to give me 2024 St. Pete scandal helmet." (00:39 onwards)

In the 2025 edition of the race, Josef Newgarden ended his exploits on the podium with a P3 finish, whereas Pato O'Ward managed P11. The duo did not have the best of qualifying sessions, as the former started his outing from P10, whereas the Arrow McLaren driver kicked off his 100-lap stint from way down in P23.

Josef Newgarden's 'sweet message' for Pato O'Ward in St. Pete

While Pato O'Ward took a hilarious jibe at his good friend Josef Newgarden in St. Pete, the latter, on his end, also had something to say during the helmet swap. Moreover, he even wrote a message on the helmet he gave to O'Ward.

In the aforementioned video, Newgarden said:

"You want to read my sweet message? I'm going to influence you to write something very nice."

Newgarden's message read:

"Pato, you are a true competitor and a world class driver, it's been an honor to share the track with you. I hope here is to many more battles together. Gracias, Amigo!"

Josef Newgarden has been competing in the highest class of open-wheel racing in America since the 2012 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (215 race starts with 31 wins, 58 podiums, and 18 pole positions), whereas O'ward is still in the early years of his career (90 race starts).

After last week's St. Petersburg race, the next event on the 2025 IndyCar calendar is the Thermal Club Grand Prix of California. Post Round 1, Newgarden has already put on board 36 points in comparison to O'Ward's 19. Keeping this in view, both drivers will look to amass a strong hall of points in the Thermal Club event (21 - 23 March).