INDIANAPOLIS — Drivers, fans and media alike have been saying it for a few years now: What’s it going to take to beat Alex Palou?
It’s a fair question at this point. Since the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series season, Palou and his No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing team have haunted the field like the kind of specter Karl Marx mentions at the start of “The Communist Manifesto.” The Spaniard is dangerously fast on road courses and street circuits and no slouch on ovals; he’s the defending Indianapolis 500 champion, after all.
So, when Palou didn’t take home his fourth win on the road course in four years, one could be forgiven for needing a moment to sort out their thoughts. Palou, however, is unbothered.
“It’s big, I mean, it was a day that we made a small mistake with big consequences,” Palou told Frontstretch after the race. “But still, really happy with getting that No. 10 a top five.”
Again, it was understandable that throughout the run up to Saturday’s (May 9) Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, the paddock was largely concerned on the question of what strange event could deny Palou the win. To be sure, his pole time was more than a half-second faster than that of second-place starter Pato O’Ward.
The inevitable seemed to be right on schedule when a first-lap collision in turn 1 derailed the days of O’Ward, Felix Rosenqvist, and a few others.
Then, Alexander Rossi‘s hybrid unit failed, leaving his car stopped just past the yard of bricks on the frontstretch. That’s a story in and of itself, but during the resulting confusion with race control not throwing a full-course yellow to accommodate pit stops, Palou’s team left him out on the track while much of the field pitted behind him.
When the race got back underway on lap 26, Palou was down in 19th following a pit stop under full-course yellow conditions. From there, he went on the offensive and charged to 12th before making his second stop on lap 38. He rejoined the track in 22nd and climbed to fifth before making his final stop on lap 62.
The final 33 laps were a climb to and hold in fifth-place as stops cycled through. It was an unremarkable day for Palou in almost every way.
Looking ahead to the Indy 500, as the entire field is now doing, Palou said the Grand Prix does impact his approach to the Month of May, despite being a completely different style of racing.
“Overall, execution and being fast, it helps,” he said. “Just getting a small hiccup but still finishing P5, it actually helps the team, knowing we can overcome small mistakes.”
During a Post-Race Conversation after the 2024 Indy 500, Frontstretch discussed Palou’s fifth-place finish and noted that those were the days that won the Spaniard championships. Wins are great, but when they’re balanced by DNFs and back-half-of-the-field finishes, they don’t make a championship season.
In that sense, the IndyCar field remains on notice as far as Palou goes. Let’s not let it go unnoticed that his current championship rival, Kyle Kirkwood, was caught out by the same caution period as Palou and suffered a slow pit stop to boot, leaving him ninth on the day.
Palou and his team had an uncharacteristically bad day, and still extending their points lead. Presented without comment.
Coming off his fifth-place run, Palou says he feels good heading into the 110th running of the Indy 500, where he’ll look to go back-to-back.
“It’s the most special,” he said. “The feeling I had last year and throughout the year afterward, I’m just so excited to get it here and be back on track — going the other way — as the defending winner.”
Alex is the IndyCar Content Director at Frontstretch, having initially joined as an entry-level contributor in 2021. He also serves as Managing Director of The Asia Cable, a publication focused on the international affairs and politics of the Asia-Pacific region which he co-founded in 2023. With previous experience in China, Japan and Poland, Alex is particularly passionate about the international realm of motorsport and the politics that make the wheels turn - literally - behind the scenes.