How Alex Palou Became Indycar's Most Successful Driver — And Why He Rejected F1

Alex Palou’s 2025 play was nan champion for an IndyCar driver successful astir 20 years.

He won a career-high 8 races, including nan Indianapolis 500. He won his 3rd consecutive bid title and his fourth title overall. He made nan podium 13 times successful 17 races.

Yet if you inquire Palou, he’ll show you he’s going into Saturday’s qualifying for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Long Beach needing to beryllium himself each complete again.

“Who cares astir what we did past year?” he said. “It’s cool to person 4 championships, but nan only important twelvemonth is 2026. Everybody started pinch zero points connected nan committee and we request to do it each complete again.”

That’s acold easier said than done, though Palou is disconnected to a accelerated commencement successful his quest for a 5th title having won 2 of nan first 4 races connected nan IndyCar schedule to guidelines 2nd successful nan driver standings, 2 points down defending Long Beach champion Kyle Kirkwood.

“Last twelvemonth was magical,” said Palou, who has captured 10 of nan past 21 checkered flags, making love to 2024. “As an jock you ever want to support connected improving, but I request to beryllium realistic and understand that to triumph 8 races successful IndyCar successful nan aforesaid year, it’s beautiful reliable to beat.

“So though I want to execute that, we conscionable request to return 2026 separately and conscionable effort our best, effort to triumph arsenic galore races arsenic imaginable and past evidently conflict for nan [Indy] 500 and nan championship.”

Winning Long Beach, 1 of nan fewer prizes connected nan IndyCar circuit that has eluded him, would beryllium a large measurement successful that thrust for five. But that won’t beryllium easy since passing connected nan tight 1.968-mile thoroughfare course, pinch its 11 turns, is difficult. That makes way position important, putting a premium connected Saturday’s qualifying and connected pit stops successful Sunday’s race.

“It’s ever ace reliable to beryllium competitory there,” Palou said of Long Beach, wherever he vanished 2nd past April, giving him 3 consecutive podium finishes. “One of nan only bad things astir thoroughfare racing [is] that it’s really reliable for america to overtake pinch really tight nan tracks are and each nan bumps.

“It conscionable makes it ace challenging.”

Alex Palou competes during nan Grand Prix of St. Petersburg successful Florida connected March 1.

(David Jensen / Getty Images)

Not arsenic challenging arsenic nan title Palou, nan astir successful Spanish driver successful IndyCar history, had to tally conscionable to get into a title car.

As a boy increasing up successful nan mini Catalan colony of Sant Antoni de Vilamajor, Palou started kart racing astir nan aforesaid clip he started people school. He was 15 erstwhile he vanished 2nd successful nan 2012 European karting title yet he didn’t spot overmuch of a early beyond that.

Lewis Hamilton had vanished successful nan aforesaid spot 13 years earlier, past went connected to go nan astir successful Formula One driver successful history. But England has a long-established history pinch open-wheel racing and Spain did not.

“He came from nothing, showing up astatine a carting way and past having these large dreams and aspirations. And present he is,” said Barry Wanser, nan elder head of IndyCar operations for Chip Ganassi Racing.

“I cognize he’s very proud he’s nan first Spaniard to triumph nan Indianapolis 500. That’s conscionable perfectly incredible.”

But that was ne'er nan goal.

“Honestly,” Palou said, “my extremity was conscionable to person fun. When we started, I ne'er wanted to beryllium a title car driver for a living. I ne'er thought that it would beryllium possible.”

Before Palou, Fernando Alonso, a two-time F1 champion, was Spain’s astir successful open-wheel driver. After Alonso is Carlos Sainz Jr., who has won 4 F1 races; Pedro de la Rosa, who made much than 100 F1 starts but climbed nan podium conscionable once; and Oriol Servià, who ran 79 IndyCar races successful 9 years but ne'er placed higher than 4th earlier retiring successful 2019, 1 twelvemonth earlier Palou made his debut successful nan series.

Aside from Alonso, those drivers were bully but not great, leaving nan roadworthy from Spain to occurrence successful open-wheel racing a constrictive one. That’s a way Palou is now widening.

“I would opportunity that for judge it’s helping early generations that I’m present and that I had success,” he said, “just because they tin cognize that pinch a normal European inheritance you tin travel to nan U.S. and conflict for wins and championships.”

Alex Palou celebrates aft winning nan Grand Prix of St. Petersburg connected March 1.

(David Jensen / Getty Images)

Wanser said what makes Palou truthful bully is his consciousness for some nan car and nan way and his expertise to pass pinch his team.

“He has a very unsocial expertise to understand what he needs nan car to do to maximize capacity connected nan tires,” said Wanser, nan title strategist for Ganassi’s No. 10 car who has sometimes been called Palou’s indispensable partner. “You’re talking astir roadworthy courses, thoroughfare courses, for nan superior [tires] — nan hards and nan softs — and knowing what he needs for qualifying and besides what nan car needs for reducing tyre deg[redation] during nan race.”

For now Palou, who turned 29 earlier this month, appears contented pinch mastering those skills successful IndyCar alternatively that pursuing nan earthy progression into an F1 ride.

He said he went “all in” to triumph an F1 spot pursuing his first IndyCar title successful 2021, but doubts astir whether he’d beryllium fixed a competitory car led him to backmost out. Rumors linking him to Red Bull’s F1 squad surfaced aft past year’s Indy 500, but Palou changeable those down too, saying he was staying pinch Ganassi.

Wanser, obviously, is happy pinch that determination and hopes it will salary disconnected Sunday successful Long Beach.

“Alex is very young, right?” he said. “IndyCar is truthful competitory that we could never, ever deliberation astir being complacent. If we commencement heading down that road, we will get hit and get hit often.

“It’s nonstop trying to perpetually improve, knowing each play we show up to nan racetrack it’s going to beryllium difficult to win.”