Alex Palou has just delivered one of the most dominant seasons ever in the NTT Indycar series. He claimed the championship with two rounds remaining after his podium finish in Portland last weekend, where his closest rival McLaren’s Pato O’ward suffered engine failure while leading the race.

The Spanish born driver, now aged 28, has joined an elite band of Indycar champions who have won three consecutive titles. The roll of honour includes, Dario Franchitti, Sebastien Bourdais and Ted Horn and Palou can equal the all time record of race wins in a season should he add to his eight victories of the season at the final two rounds in August.

AJ Foyt won ten races in the 1964 season and Al Unser equalled that in 1970. Yet in a championship where the racing is often mixed up by unpredictable full course cautions, such as feat in the modern era would be unprecedented.

 

 

 

Palou F1 route blocked

Palou who hails from Barcelona made his way through the junior European formula, culminating in a drive for Campos Racing in the FIA international F2 series in 2017. With no drive the following season, Palou returned to the European F3 championship and competed in the Macou Grand Prix, before switching to the highly rated Japanese Super Formula in 2019, where he was an impressive third racing cars considered to be just a step down from those in F1.

With no options to continue his career in the FIA International racing series, Palou moved to the USA and won a drive with Indycar minnow team Dale Coyle Racing. Despite a season of toil with his only rewards being a podium and a fastest lap, front runners Chip Ganessi saw the raw talent in Palou and he called up to race with the big boys for the 2021 campaign.

The Spanish driver was up against Scott Dixon as a team mate, who with his six driver titles in Indycar has become one of the legends of the sport. AJ Foyt is the only driver in history to have gone one better than Dixon, who is known for his masterful strategic  capabilities and regularly winning races from unlikely start positions.

Alex Palou impressively won his first title with Ganassi in year one, starting there campaign with his maiden win in the Indycar series at Barber Motorsports Park. He came second in the toughest single seater race of all, at the Indy500 losing out to Hélio Castroneves‘ whose fourth win equaled the all time record in Indianapolis.

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McLaren fail to capture Palou

He also won the coveted Mario Andretti Cup as the season’s highest-scoring driver on the road and street courses. Ovals are considered a separate specialist skill, something Palou would learn over the coming years.

Having started the year with podiums at the first three events, Palou was ideally positioned ahead of his much more experienced team mates to defend his championship in 2022. Yet he became distracted mid-season, when McLaren claimed to have secured his signature for the following year, with the ultimate promise of an F1 drive.

Whilst McLaren’s CEO Zak Brown was in a legal battle with F1 team Alpine, having claimed the services of the French owned team’s reserve driver Oscar Piastri, he found himself in another legal dispute as Chip Ganassi refused to release his star driver. Whilst Palou had indicated he was leaving for McLaren, Ganassi turned him around persuading him McLaren had little intention of promoting him to their F1 team and he would in fact return to Indycar but in the colours of papaya.

The matter was to drag on for months and the disruption within the Ganassi team, meant Palou was no longer out there wining races. With just a single victory arc Laguna Seca towards the end of the season, Alex finished the year in fifth place in the drivers’ championship.

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Dominent 2025 season, sees Palou F1 rumours resurface

Refocused and ready for the challenge ahead, Chip Ganassi’s star racer was back at the front of the field in 2023. A string of four wins in five races mid season set Palou in a good position to win his second championship. By winning the third to last race in Portland in 2023, Palou broke run of seventeen consecutive championships, where the title had been won at the last event of the year. The chip Ganassi star backed this up by winning the 2024 drivers’ title with one race to go and this season he has been dominant finishing ahead of his nearest rival by a staggering 151 points, with two rounds remaining.

His latest crown was taken last weekend in Portland, where ex-F1 journalist and current lead Indycar commentator, Will Buxton, eulogised over the talent on show. Writing on his X profile the British motorsports writer said: “Palou is, hands down, one of the best open wheel drivers in the world right now. Could he win in F1? Absolutely. With the right car.’’

“Would he get the right car though? Unless it’s a top 4 team in F1, why walk away from making history in a championship he loves?’’ Buxton concluded. It would seem Formula One will never be graced with Palou’s incredible talent, given the opportunity Palou has to become the greatest ever in the Indycar hall of fame. He has already matched the legendary record that is Mario Andretti in terms of championship wins, although now on 19 race wins he is a longways behind the 69 racked up by AJ Foyt.

Yet in Indycar drivers regularly continue well into their 40’s, so Palou does yet have the time. Unfortunately for the global audience, F1 is unlikely to ever see Alex Palou behind the wheel of one of its cars. The Spaniard will be 29 next season, and only Damon Hill in the history of F1 has joined the sport later in life and gone on to claim an F1 drivers’ world championship. 

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Italian media on Hamilton’s contract clause

Racer and sone of Martin Brundle suggested on the F1 podcast this week, that the legend Verstappen’s reputation has been “slightly dented” this season with just two wins to his name. Yet if the world champion’s reputation has taken a hit, the seven times F1 world champion’s legacy is crashing down in flames.

Lewis Hamilton was beaten in two of his three seasons together with George Russell as team mate and his first year at Ferrari os heading in the same direction. Hamilton left Mercedes to join Ferrari once he realised the end of the road was nigh and Toto Wolff refused to give him more than a single season’s guaranteed contract extension.

The ‘multi-year’ deal which the pair announced late in 2023 in fact was a ‘one plus one’ stake contract, where Hamilton was guaranteed 2024 with the silver arrows, but with a break clause before the second period, either party could walk away from the deal…. READ MORE