Álex Palou
Palou at Road America in 2021
Nationality	Spanish
Born	Álex Palou Montalbo (1997-04-01) 1 April 1997 (age 27) Sant Antoni de Vilamajor, Barcelona, Spain
IndyCar Series career
66 races run over 5 years
Team(s)	No. 10 ( Chip Ganassi Racing)
2023 position	1st
Best finish	1st ( 2021, 2023)
First race	2020 Genesys 300 ( Texas)
Last race	2024 Grand Prix of Long Beach ( Long Beach)
First win	2021 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama ( Birmingham)
Last win	2023 Grand Prix of Portland ( Portland)
Wins Podiums Poles 9 27 5
Previous series
2019 2019 2018 2017 2017 2017 2015– 16 2014 2014	Super GT Super Formula FIA European F3 FIA Formula 2 Championship World Series Formula V8 3.5 All-Japan F3 Championship GP3 Series Euroformula Open Championship BRDC Formula 4 Championship
Championship titles
2021, 2023	IndyCar Series

Álex Palou Montalbo (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈaləks ˈpalɔw monˈtalbu]; ^[1] born 1 April 1997) is a Spanish racing driver who drives for Chip Ganassi Racing in the IndyCar Series, where he won the 2021 and 2023 championships, and winner in the $1 Million Challenge. He is the first Spanish racing driver to win a National Championship in American open-wheel racing history and also the first Spaniard to win in the GP3 Series.

Early years

Born in Sant Antoni de Vilamajor, Spanish racer Palou began karting in 2003. ^[2] His biggest karting achievement was the championship title in the WSK Euro Series in 2012. ^[3]

Euroformula Open

Palou made his open-wheel racing debut, competing in the Euroformula Open Championship with Campos Racing in 2014. ^[4] He bookended the season, winning the opening race at the Nürburgring and the final race at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. He also won a race at the Hungaroring to finish third in the series standings, missing out on the runner-up placing by just one point to Artur Janosz. ^[5]

Racing in Europe

GP3 Series

2015

In 2015, Palou graduated to the GP3 Series with Campos Racing. During the first half of the season, he suffered major reliability issues as well as some driving mistakes due to his lack of experience, but his results improved along the season and he closed the year with a victory at Abu Dhabi.

At the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya of Spain, ^[6] Palou qualified fourth for the first race, but he slipped the clutch at the start and lost any opportunity to fight for the points. He made another bad start at the second race.

At the Red Bull Ring of Austria, ^[7] Palou had another bad weekend. Starting from third, he stalled the engine at the start. He later admitted he felt nervous after the mistakes from Barcelona and that that might have contributed to those new errors. He did not finish the second race because of a crash on the first lap.

At the Silverstone Circuit of England, ^[8] a gear-box sensor failed when Palou was driving fifth. He was forced to retire and subsequently had to start the second race from the last place on the grid. He managed to overtake eleven cars, eight of them in the first lap, to finish 13th.

At the Hungaroring from Hungary, ^[9] Palou started seventh and moved up to fifth until a car hit him from behind. He suffered a puncture and was forced to pit. Starting from the bottom of the grid for the second race, he wrapped up the weekend with an 18th-place finish.

At the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit from Belgium, ^[10] Palou scored his first points in GP3 as the season passed its halfway point. Struggling with tyre wear and lack of speed, the Campos Racing driver finished in 7th place in the first race. He led most of the second race but eventually fell back to fifth because of the lack of top speed. He later argued that Esteban Ocon was scrapping 0,5 seconds per lap just in the first sector, where the Kemmel Straight was found.

At the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza ^[11] from Italy, Palou had another difficult weekend because of the lack of top speed. Using the same engine he raced in Belgium, he managed to finish seventh in the first race and subsequently started the second one from the front row. He made "The Great Mistake" (as he wrote in his column) when during the warm-up lap he spun at the main straight and nearly hit the wall. Although his car was not damaged, he fell back to tenth.

At the Sochi Autodrom from Russia, ^[12] Palou received a new engine that solved the top speed problems he suffered in Belgium and Italy. Because of Carlos Sainz crash during Russian Grand Prix Free Practice 3, the first race of the weekend was moved to Sunday. Palou qualified just a tenth away from Pole Position and scored a provisional season-high in the first race when he crossed the line in fourth place. He immediately scored a provisional season high when he crossed the line in fourth place. He was ninth in the second one.

At the Bahrain International Circuit of Bahrain, ^[13] Palou suffered yet again more reliability issues. He started from fourth, but during the warm-up lap a gas sensor failed and the car kept on accelerating when the driver lifted the throttle. He decided to enter the Pit-Lane and retire. Because of this, he started the second race from last place. He gained 14 positions, but ended up tenth and outside from the points.

At the Yas Marina Circuit from Abu Dhabi, ^[14] Palou won his race in GP3 and became the first Spanish driver to ever get a victory in the series. After being eighth in the first race, he held Pole Position for the second one. Worried about tyre wear, he targeted for a podium finish. He held the lead at the start and slowly started to pull away from the field. He crossed the line with a 4.4-second margin to Carlin's Antonio Fuoco.

2016

Palou continued to race for Campos Racing in his second season in GP3. He scored second place at the Silverstone sprint race and fifth place at the Yas Marina sprint race. He ranked 15th in the overall standings.

World Series Formula V8 3.5

2017

Palou also raced with Teo Martín Motorsport in three rounds of the 2017 World Series Formula V8 3.5 championship, where he won three poles and a race. This partial season earned him 10th in the championship. Palou finished 2017 with Campos Racing in two Formula 2 rounds, where he scored 5 points. Palou led the majority of the Jerez sprint race from the reverse grid pole, but ultimately, he could not hang on to the lead with his heavily worn tires and finished 8th. These two rounds finished Palou 21st in the championship.

FIA Formula 3 European Championship

2018

In 2018, Palou returned to Europe full-time for a full season with Hitech Bullfrog GP in the 2018 FIA Formula 3 European Championship. He scored 7 podiums and ended the year 7th in the championship.

Racing in Japan

Japanese Formula 3

2017

Palou moved to Japan in 2017 to compete in Japanese Formula 3 for Threebond with Drago Corse. He won three races but finished the year third in the championship behind Mitsunori Takaboshi and Sho Tsuboi.

Super GT and Super Formula

2019

Palou moved back to Japan in 2019 to compete full-time with McLaren Customer Racing Japan in the Super GT GT300 class and TCS Nakajima Racing in Super Formula. In Super GT, Palou was partnered with 2004 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Seiji Ara. As a team, they scored one podium at Autopolis but ultimately finished 15th in the championship. In Super Formula, Palou had far more success. He won at Fuji Speedway from pole position and, after qualifying on pole at the final round at Suzuka, he looked to be the championship favorite. A problem with the ventilation duct early in the race immensely slowed Palou's car down and he finished 19th in the race. This dropped him to 3rd in the championship in the end.

IndyCar

Palou tested an IndyCar in July 2019 with Dale Coyne Racing at Mid-Ohio. ^[15]

Dale Coyne Racing (2020)

2020: Rookie season

On 19 December 2019, it was announced that Palou would move to the IndyCar Series for a rookie campaign with Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh. ^[16] His manager in the IndyCar series is former IndyCar driver Roger Yasukawa. ^[17]

In his first race for the team at the 2020 Genesys 300 at Texas Motor Speedway he was taken out by fellow rookie Rinus VeeKay. He took his first IndyCar podium at Road America.

Chip Ganassi Racing (2021–present)

2021

Palou was signed by Chip Ganassi Racing to drive the No. 10 Honda for the 2021 IndyCar Series season. ^[18] On 18 April 2021, Palou earned his maiden IndyCar Series victory in the season-opening race at Barber Motorsports Park. Palou started on pole for the first time in his IndyCar career at the first race of the season at Texas Motor Speedway, although his pole position was earned due to his early-season championship point lead after qualifying was canceled for the race due to inclement weather. ^[19] Palou added another podium for the season at the GMR Grand Prix and then finished second in the 2021 Indianapolis 500 to Hélio Castroneves' record-tying fourth victory. Palou's finish in the 500 vaulted him into the points lead for the championship. For the rest of the season, only himself and Pato O'Ward would hold the points lead.

Palou then went on a run of podium finishes after the 500, although he briefly lost the points lead to O'Ward in Detroit by a single point. Palou finished third in the second race in Detroit, won at Road America after Josef Newgarden suffered a gearbox failure, and finished third at Mid Ohio to solidify his points lead in the championship over both Scott Dixon and O'Ward. ^[20] This was despite suffering three engine change related penalties imposed on him by IndyCar. He gave up the points lead to O'Ward after he and Dixon were collected in an accident caused by Rinus VeeKay at Gateway but took it back after taking his first earned pole position and a third victory at Portland. After a second-place finish at Laguna Seca, Palou carried a thirty-five-point advantage over O'Ward heading into the final race of the season at Long Beach, with only himself, O'Ward, and Josef Newgarden still mathematically capable of winning the title. After O'Ward was knocked out in an accident on the first lap of the race Palou drove conservatively and finished in fourth place, winning his first IndyCar championship. He became the third Chip Ganassi Racing driver to win the IndyCar series championship after Dixon and Dario Franchitti and the first Honda driver other than Dixon to win an IndyCar championship in the Dallara DW12 and turbo V6 era of IndyCar racing. ^[21] Palou also secured his first IndyCar track discipline championship in 2021, winning the Mario Andretti Cup as the season's highest-scoring driver on the road and street courses. For his Indianapolis Motor Speedway victory lap, he drove a chicken-themed limousine, in honor of his favorite after-victory meal of fried chicken. ^[22]

2022

Palou would start the 2022 season out with podiums at St. Petersburg, Long Beach, and Barber, outperforming his Chip Ganassi teammates and putting him in a strong early position to defend his title. ^{[23] [24]} The title would eventually be lost to Penske's Will Power, but Palou would still finish 5th (due to countback, as he tied Scott McLaughlin with 510 points) with a commanding win in the Laguna Seca finale to round out the year.

Contract controversy

On 12 July 2022, Chip Ganassi Racing sent a press release saying that they had extended the contract of Palou for the 2023 IndyCar season by exercising the option they held on his deal. Included in the press release was a quote attributed to Palou. ^[25] Hours later, Palou, via a thread on Twitter denounced this press release, claimed that the quote attributed to him was created by the team (a practice common among IndyCar teams, according to RACER.com's Marshall Pruett) ^[26] and also not approved by him. He also stated that he had given Chip Ganassi Racing prior notice that he intended to leave the team after the 2022 season and join McLaren Racing's roster of drivers. ^[27]

Moments after these tweets, McLaren announced that they had signed Palou to a contract for 2023, though it was not specifically mentioned if Palou would drive for Arrow McLaren SP, McLaren's IndyCar operation. ^{[27] [26]} Chip Ganassi Racing responded to this by releasing a statement reiterating their claim to Palou's services. ^[28] On 27 July 2022, Chip Ganassi Racing confirmed they had filed a civil lawsuit against Palou in Marion County, Indiana. ^[29] On 14 September 2022, it was announced that an agreement had been reached by all parties that would see Palou continue with Chip Ganassi for the 2023 season, with McLaren signing him to test the McLaren MCL35M. ^{[30] [31]} Palou was then set to switch to McLaren for the 2024 season. ^[32] In August 2023, this arrangement fell apart after Palou told McLaren CEO Zak Brown that he had "no intention of honoring his contract" with McLaren. ^[32] Following this, McLaren Racing and Arrow McLaren sued Palou for nearly $23 million in the U.K. Commercial Court in an attempt to recoup investments made in Palou, including future sponsorship revenue tied to Palou joining McLaren, McLaren's cost when Palou was the test driver, the cost of finding a replacement for Palou, and Palou's $400,000 advanced 2024 salary. ^{[33] [34] [35]} In his legal response, Palou admitted to breaching his contract with McLaren as he lost faith in McLaren's ability to land him a seat in Formula One, saying that he is too old to wait and see if someone gets hurt to get his chance. ^[36]

2023

Palou started his season strongly, picking up top five finishes in four of the first five races and winning the GMR Grand Prix leading up to the 107th Indianapolis 500. During qualifying for the 500, Palou clinched the pole position with a new pole record speed of 234.217 mph, topping Scott Dixon's record set the previous year. ^[37] Palou took his second victory of the season at the Detroit Grand Prix, ^[38] and then won again at the following round in Road America, followed by a third consecutive win at Mid-Ohio. By winning the Grand Prix of Portland, he clinched his second IndyCar title a race early. ^[39]

Formula One

In September 2022, McLaren announced that they had signed Palou to their Testing of Previous Cars program that would see him test the MCL35M, ^{[40] [41] [42]} first at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, ^{[40] [42]} and later in October at the Red Bull Ring, ^[43] both together with Pato O'Ward. Palou made his debut in free practice with McLaren at the 2022 United States Grand Prix. ^[44] On his free practice debut, Palou called the F1 car "insane" and "capable of so much". ^[45]

On 1 December 2022, McLaren announced Palou as a reserve driver for the 2023 Formula One World Championship. ^[46] He drove the MCL35M during a test at the Hungaroring alongside Oscar Piastri. ^[47]

Personal life

On December 4, 2023, Palou and his wife Esther welcomed their first child. ^[48]

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2014	Euroformula Open Championship	Campos Racing	16	3	3	4	11	242	3rd
	Spanish Formula 3 Championship		6	1	1	1	5	105	2nd
	Macau Grand Prix	Fortec Motorsports	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	16th
	BRDC Formula 4 Championship	Sean Walkinshaw Racing – Caterham F1	3	0	0	0	0	48	23rd
2015	GP3 Series	Campos Racing	18	1	0	1	1	51	10th
2016	GP3 Series	Campos Racing	18	0	0	0	1	22	15th
	Ferrari Challenge Europe - Trofeo Pirelli (Pro)	StileF Squadra Corse	2	1	2	1	2	39	7th
2017	Japanese Formula 3 Championship	Threebond with Drago Corse	20	3	5	3	10	102	3rd
	Macau Grand Prix		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	11th
	World Series Formula V8 3.5	Teo Martín Motorsport	6	1	3	1	3	68	10th
	FIA Formula 2 Championship	Campos Racing	4	0	0	0	0	5	21st
2018	FIA Formula 3 European Championship	Hitech Bullfrog GP	30	0	0	2	7	204	7th
	Macau Grand Prix	B-Max Racing Team	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
2019	Super GT - GT300	McLaren Customer Racing Japan	7	0	1	0	1	20	15th
	Super Formula	TCS Nakajima Racing	7	1	3	2	1	26	3rd
2020	IndyCar Series	Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh	14	0	0	1	1	238	16th
2021	IndyCar Series	Chip Ganassi Racing	16	3	2	3	7	549	1st
2022	IndyCar Series	Chip Ganassi Racing	17	1	0	3	6	510	5th
	IMSA SportsCar Championship - DPi	Cadillac Racing	1	0	0	0	0	266	24th
2023	IndyCar Series	Chip Ganassi Racing	17	5	2	4	10	656	1st
	Formula One	McLaren F1 Team	Reserve driver
2024	IndyCar Series	Chip Ganassi Racing
	IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTP	Cadillac Racing	1	0	0	0	0	242	10th*
	FIA World Endurance Championship - Hypercar

* Season still in progress.

Complete Euroformula Open Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Pos	Points
2014	Campos Racing	NÜR 1 1	NÜR 2 Ret	ALG 1 3	ALG 2 3	JER 1 4	JER 2 2	HUN 1 2	HUN 2 1	SIL 1 2	SIL 2 2	SPA 1 2	SPA 2 5	MNZ 1 Ret	MNZ 2 16	CAT 1 2	CAT 2 1	3rd	242

Complete GP3 Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Pos	Points
2015	Campos Racing	CAT FEA 12	CAT SPR 20	RBR FEA 14	RBR SPR Ret	SIL FEA Ret	SIL SPR 13	HUN FEA 19	HUN SPR 18	SPA FEA 7	SPA SPR 5	MNZ FEA 7	MNZ SPR 10	SOC FEA 4	SOC SPR 9	BHR FEA Ret	BHR SPR 10	YMC FEA 8	YMC SPR 1	10th	51
2016	Campos Racing	CAT FEA 19	CAT SPR 14	RBR FEA 16	RBR SPR 11	SIL FEA 10	SIL SPR 2	HUN FEA 11	HUN SPR 14	HOC FEA 16	HOC SPR 19†	SPA FEA 13	SPA SPR 11	MNZ FEA 11	MNZ SPR 7	SEP FEA 14	SEP SPR 19	YMC FEA 10	YMC SPR 5	15th	22

^† Driver did not finish the race but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete Japanese Formula 3 Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pos	Points
2017	Threebond with Drago Corse	OKA1 1 4	OKA1 2 1	OKA1 3 2	SUZ1 1 2	SUZ1 2 2	FUJ1 1 1	FUJ1 2 4	OKA2 1 8	OKA2 2 1	SUZ2 1 4	SUZ2 2 2	FUJ2 1 3	FUJ2 2 4	MOT 1 Ret	MOT 2 3	MOT 3 7	AUT 1 2	AUT 2 4	SUG 1 5	SUG 2 5	3rd	102

Complete World Series Formula V8 3.5 results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Pos	Points
2017	Teo Martín Motorsport	SIL 1	SIL 2	SPA 1	SPA 2	MNZ 1	MNZ 2	JER 1	JER 2	ALC 1	ALC 2	NÜR 1 11	NÜR 2 1	MEX 1 3	MEX 2 Ret	COA 1 5	COA 2 2	BHR 1	BHR 2	10th	68

Complete FIA Formula 2 Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	DC	Points
2017	Campos Racing	BHR FEA	BHR SPR	CAT FEA	CAT SPR	MON FEA	MON SPR	BAK FEA	BAK SPR	RBR FEA	RBR SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR	JER FEA 8	JER SPR 8	YMC FEA 12	YMC SPR 12	21st	5

Complete FIA Formula 3 European Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	DC	Points
2018	Hitech Bullfrog GP	Mercedes	PAU 1 7	PAU 2 2	PAU 3 19	HUN 1 12	HUN 2 3	HUN 3 Ret	NOR 1 11	NOR 2 4	NOR 3 Ret	ZAN 1 10	ZAN 2 4	ZAN 3 6	SPA 1 2	SPA 2 11	SPA 3 9	SIL 1 7	SIL 2 11	SIL 3 7	MIS 1 8	MIS 2 2	MIS 3 6	NÜR 1 Ret	NÜR 2 6	NÜR 3 3	RBR 1 3	RBR 2 Ret	RBR 3 10	HOC 1 4	HOC 2 8	HOC 3 3	7th	204

Complete Super GT results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	DC	Points
2019	McLaren Customer Racing Japan	McLaren 720S GT3	GT300	OKA 19	FUJ 14	SUZ 13	CHA	FUJ Ret	AUT 2	SUG 12	MOT 7	15th	20

Complete Super Formula results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	DC	Points
2019	TCS Nakajima Racing	Honda	SUZ Ret	AUT 6	SUG 13	FUJ 1	MOT 4	OKA 4	SUZ 19	3rd	26

Complete Formula One participations

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	WDC	Points
2022	McLaren F1 Team	McLaren MCL36	Mercedes AMG F1 M13 E Performance V6 t	BHR	SAU	AUS	EMI	MIA	ESP	MON	AZE	CAN	GBR	AUT	FRA	HUN	BEL	NED	ITA	SIN	JPN	USA TD	MXC	SAP	ABU	–	–

American open-wheel racing results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

IndyCar Series

( key)

Year	Team	Chassis	No.	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Rank	Points	Ref
2020	Dale Coyne Racing w/ Team Goh	Dallara DW12	55	Honda	TXS 23	IMS 19	ROA 3	ROA 7	IOW 11	IOW 14	INDY 28	GTW 15	GTW 12	MDO 12	MDO 23	IMS 17	IMS 9	STP 13					16th	238	[49]
2021	Chip Ganassi Racing		10		ALA 1*	STP 17	TXS 4	TXS 7	IMS 3	INDY 2	DET 15	DET 3	ROA 1	MDO 3	NSH 7	IMS 27	GTW 20	POR 1	LAG 2	LBH 4			1st	549	[50]
2022					STP 2	TXS 7	LBH 3	ALA 2	IMS 18	INDY 9	DET 6	ROA 27	MDO 2	TOR 6	IOW 6	IOW 13	IMS 10	NSH 3*	GTW 9	POR 12	LAG 1*		5th	510	[51]
2023					STP 8	TXS 3	LBH 5	ALA 5	IMS 1*	INDY 4	DET 1*	ROA 1	MDO 1*	TOR 2	IOW 8	IOW 3	NSH 3	IMS 7	GTW 7	POR 1*	LAG 3		1st	656	[52]
2024					STP 4	THE 1*	LBH 3	ALA	IMS	INDY	DET	ROA	LAG	MDO	IOW	IOW	TOR	GTW	POR	MIL	MIL	NSH	3rd*	67*	[53]

* Season still in progress.

Indianapolis 500

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
2020	Dallara	Honda	7	28	Dale Coyne Racing w/ Team Goh
2021	Dallara	Honda	6	2	Chip Ganassi Racing
2022			2	9
2023			1	4

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	No.	Class	Make	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Rank	Points
2022	Cadillac Racing	01	DPi	Cadillac DPi-V.R	Cadillac 5.5 L V8	DAY 7	SEB	LBH	LGA	MDO	DET	WGL	MOS	ELK	PET	24th	266
2024	Cadillac Racing	01	GTP	Cadillac V-Series.R	Cadillac LMC55R 5. 5 L V8	DAY 10	SEB	LBH	LGA	DET	WGL	ELK	IMS	PET		10th*	242*

^* Season still in progress.

References

External links

• Official website
• Álex Palou's columns of his first year in GP3
• Álex Palou career summary at DriverDB.com

Sporting positions
Preceded by Scott Dixon	IndyCar Series Champion 2021	Succeeded by Will Power
Preceded by Will Power	IndyCar Series Champion 2023	Succeeded by Incumbent