IndyCar’s hottest property: Alex Palou reveals all

“I’d been watching him in 2020, he looked pretty handy, doing a good job in his first season, and when we did the first test with him at Laguna Seca ahead of the 2021 season we thought ‘this guy is really good’. That’s when we called Chip and told him, ‘This kid is mega.’ I don’t think anyone else was looking at him at the time so the deal was done.” That’s four-time IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti, now a key adviser at Chip Ganassi Racing.

We could say the rest is history, Alex Palou winning the IndyCar title in his first year with Ganassi and looking red hot for a second this season. But… when we catch up with him in early July the rumour mill about his future is in overdrive. Specifically there’s talk of a possible move to Formula 1 where he is already a McLaren reserve driver, although in the fevered world of online speculation several teams are said to be interested. A decision from Palou is said to be due at the end of the month.

So our interiew, which comes on the back of a stellar run of four wins in five, marks a moment in time for the 26-year-old. Will he stick or twist? Yes, he’s flying high. But why leave Ganassi? Unless he’s on an F1 promise…

But before all that, let’s go back to the start, to understand how the cream of a fine new IndyCar generation has risen to the top.

In brief, it took him 10 years to get where he is today, a long and winding road through karting in Spain, F3 and GP3 in Europe, Super Formula in Japan and other diversions.

“In 2018 I thought ‘This isn’t working, I have to go back to karting’, but I was lucky to get a call”

Alex Palou Montalbo, to give him the full family name, started karting when he was five years old. “There was no history of racing in the family,” he says. “We were not wealthy people, but there was a rental kart track between my house and school. I had my first go on my fifth birthday. I passed this track every day, it looked like fun, so that’s how it started. I won titles in Spain, the WSK Euro Series in 2012 and some international races. I loved the competition, working out ways to go faster than all the others. It was super-fun, very challenging and so rewarding once we got everything right. It was a great experience, all the travelling to races around Europe.”

This, however, was no meteoric rise to fame. His graduation to cars came in 2014 with the Campos team in Euroformula and Spanish F3, finishing runner-up in the latter. Then came GP3, European F3 and, following in the footsteps of so many others, a move to Japan for Super GT and Super Formula with Nakajima Racing. A relationship with Honda proved to be very useful further down the road. What was it that was holding him back?

“The family was not ready for all the expense of motor sport, but we had some support to keep us going. I have to say, in 2018, I thought, ‘This isn’t working, I have to go back to karting’, but I was lucky to get the call to test for Dallara in Japan. It’s a tough sport. If you don’t have a budget you face very difficult moments. Racing in Japan was an amazing experience, a very different culture, but this opportunity of F3 there was the lucky break I needed. They love the sport, they have Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, but only seven race tracks. All the Japanese drivers know every inch of every track, so the competition is very tough. It was an insane experience, one of my best times in racing.”

By the end of 2019 Palou was on the brink of winning the Super Formula crown when the car let him down at the final round at Suzuka. But he’d impressed a lot of people, including Honda. In late December he got the call from Dale Coyne and a rookie season in IndyCar was on the table.

“It was all very last minute. I did a test for Dale Coyne and Honda at the end of the year, and it went really well. I loved it. This was my dream. I always thought it was one of the toughest championships, racing on road circuits, street tracks and ovals. So I grabbed this chance, went to America, started preparing for this new opportunity. It wasn’t an amazing year, we had a podium, but I never expected to get the call from Ganassi. They were super-helpful, gave me everything I needed, and I was immediately comfortable, happy in the car from the first test. Scott Dixon has been incredibly helpful since day one. Nobody knows more about how to win in IndyCar. He’s shown me where I can improve. A big part of winning the title in 2021 was having him as a team-mate and Dario being there in the team. I’ve been so lucky to have these guys around me.”

The Spaniard is now a very hot property, a decade of ups and downs is behind him and everyone is talking about him in the States and in Europe. He’s found himself in the right place at the right time at last.

“I always believed in myself, always thought that with a top team I could be up there, and fight for the championship, but you never know until you get that opportunity. It was amazing, I’d been watching IndyCar on all those great circuits since I was a kid, places like Road America, Laguna Seca, Indianapolis, Long Beach… beautiful tracks. It was such a privilege to be a part of it all and be the champion.”

“For a driver coming from Europe the ovals are tough to begin with”

Within the team they talk about how calm and how unflustered he is in the heat of battle, knowing when to attack, when to be patient. The way he races seems perfectly suited to the unpredictable myriad of yellow flags, multiple tyre and fuel stops that challenge an IndyCar driver.

“Yeah, we have crazy races, it’s not like other categories where you have to push all the time, be super-aggressive from the start. You have to think ahead, be patient, know when it’s the right time to push, and maybe it’s one of our strong points in the team. In all sports you need to remove any emotion, clear your mind, focus on going forward, and that’s part of my personality. So many things can go wrong, especially in motor racing. For a driver coming from Europe the ovals are tough to begin with. You have no experience so you just have to figure it out. Honestly, I really like the ovals, we haven’t won one yet, but that will come very soon.

“We came so close to winning the Indy 500 in 2021. That was painful, losing by less than half a second. It was my first time leading an oval race and I didn’t really know how to defend, how to make the perfect race in the last two laps. You know, losing it to Hélio Castroneves, one of the greatest at Indy, that made it less painful. If it had been someone else… that would have been worse.”

Strategy is key and Ganassi’s highly experienced engineer Barry Wanser has been instrumental in guiding Palou. “He is on my radio all the time, the only one who has communication with me,” Palou says. “If you take him out of the equation it would be really tough. But it’s a whole team effort, they are all very strong and each person is important to me as the driver. It is my decision when I use the push-to-pass, and depending on the race you have 200 seconds or 150 seconds and it’s up to me when best to use this. I like it actually. You can use it to defend or attack. It’s not like DRS in Formula 1 where people can overtake you no matter what you do.”

Honda would appear to have the edge on Chevrolet this season. All six cars in the ‘Fast Six’ in qualifying at Mid-Ohio were powered by the Japanese manufacturer. Does this suggest Ganassi has a slight advantage?

“It changes every weekend so it’s hard to say who is ahead. We’ve struggled a bit on the ovals but we had a slight advantage at Mid-Ohio, not so much in Texas, so I really cannot say. This is great; I like it. You never know from one weekend to the next. It’s track specific, but overall I would say it’s pretty equal between the two engines. We need to watch out for Penske and McLaren, things can change so quickly, we need another couple of really good races. Of course we always try to win, get the most points, we focus on that and not the championship. When we get to the last two races then maybe coming second will be enough, we can race differently. But right now we’re gonna keep doing what we do, going for the win. That’s how I approach the second half of the season.”

Now we need to tackle the much-publicised row that threatened to de-rail IndyCar’s first Spanish champion.

Last summer Palou upset the apple cart when he renounced Ganassi’s claim he was staying put and tried to join Arrow McLaren for 2023. The dispute over contracts led to some regrettable legal wrangling. As Red Bull’s Christian Horner recently observed, the higher you rise, the sharper the knives. Chip Ganassi was, shall we say, not impressed.

“It wasn’t the first time I’ve been through something like that,” Chip Ganassi told us. “These young guys come into the sport and people start spitting in their ear about why this is better than that, why they’d be better off here and there. He’s just a young guy, maybe he got some bad advice. It was unfortunate, we’re all fine now, and time will tell if he can put it behind him.”

“There is a chance of F1 in the next few years, only a slight one”

Palou is keen to close a bad chapter. “It’s history, we are focused on the future. After all that, from day one, everyone was focused forward, on maximising what we had in the team and you can see that from the results this year. Everyone has the same mindset, to look forward, focus on the championship.”

It was a major bump in the road. So what has he learnt from those turbulent weeks?

“Well, I learnt a lot of stuff, most of which I will keep to myself right now,” he replies. “I had to deal with a lot of pressure from the media, listen to everyone giving opinions when they didn’t know the full story. It was pretty hard and the situation made it more difficult for me to deliver on the track. It was a distraction I didn’t need. Yeah, I learnt a lot. That’s why I don’t like to talk too much about my future plans.”

What we do know is that last October, at the United States Grand Prix at COTA, he drove a McLaren-Mercedes in free practice, immediately impressing with his lap times.

“It was just an amazing opportunity, tough obviously, but even more special, for me, being at the Circuit of the Americas. You only get one hour, the team asks you to gather so much data, you have to get used to the car, and the track, so that’s a lot of stuff happening all at once. I did the best I could and I’m quite proud of how it went. The car is quite complex, there’s a lot to do apart from just the driving: all the maps, the switches on the steering wheel, making the changes the engineers are wanting. I got on top of this and I think we were up to speed pretty quickly.”

So… what is he thinking? Is there a plan? He clearly left COTA on something of a high.

“I think everyone would agree that F1 is the biggest series in motorsport, it’s a world championship, with a lot of manufacturers involved, a lot of technical development. So everyone wants to be a part of it. Having said that I am already having the opportunity I always wanted, which was to drive an F1 car, be part of a team, learn from them, get the chance to do a practice session, show what I was capable of doing. Honestly, I love IndyCar, I am happy here, but yes, obviously I would like the opportunity to do F1, and it’s not always going to be there. There is a chance in the next two years, only a slight chance, and after that it might be over for me. I’m not spending a lot of time thinking about this right now, but if the opportunity comes, OK, I would love it.

 

“You know, I wouldn’t mind if the chance never comes because my testing and a practice session with McLaren has been a big experience already. Also, in F1 there’s two cars, maybe four, that can win a race. In IndyCar everyone has a chance to win, we all have the same tools.”

Is this an understandably careful answer bearing in mind the last time he spoke too soon about his future? A move to F1 might involve a Honda engine but we can only watch and wait to see who gets the hottest signature in town. Alex Palou is charming, intelligent, cool as a Coors in a fridge, and very quick. What’s not to like?

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Alex Palou CV

● Born April 1, 1997 in Barcelona, Spain

● Begins karting at his local track in Sant Antoni de Vilamajor at the age of five. Rises to professional competition and becomes the 2012 WSK Euro Series karting champion for CRG.

● Makes his car-racing debut in the Euroformula Open in 2014, winning the first and last races of the year at the Nürburgring and Barcelona, respectively. Also finishes second in the Spanish F3 standings.

● Graduates to the GP3 Series for 2015-16, but two disappointing seasons ensue with just two podium finishes for the Campos team.

● Heads to Japan to continue his career and flourishes in the domestic F3 championship in 2017, winning three rounds to finish third in the points.

● Graduates to Super Formula for 2019 with Nakajima Racing, is well in the title fight until a car failure leaves him third in the standings. Also makes his Super GT debut with McLaren and qualifies on pole.

● Joins the IndyCar Series for 2020 with Dale Coyne Racing. From his 14 appearances he scores a podium on just his third start at Road America and a fastest lap at Gateway.

● A move to Chip Ganassi Racing is sparked after Dario Franchitti recommends him for a test. The move is hugely successful, with Palou winning three races and the championship in his first year with the team. It marks his first championship title in cars.

● Palou causes a stir when he announces he’s leaving Ganassi to join McLaren’s Indy team for 2023, only for things to get legal. He remains with the Ganassi team, where he’s under contract.

● Is made McLaren F1’s reserve driver and makes his free practice debut at Austin, 2022.

● Still with Ganassi in IndyCar (and McLaren’s F1 reserve) he’s strolling to a second IndyCar crown, having won four races so far to open up a comfortable points margin. Does F1 beckon?