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Álex Palou
Álex Palou Montalbo (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈaləks ˈpalɔw monˈtalbu]; born 1 April 1997) is a Spanish racing driver who drives for Chip Ganassi Racing in the IndyCar Series, where he won the 2021, 2023, 2024, and 2025 championships and the 2025 Indianapolis 500. Palou 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 Indianapolis 500 and the GP3 Series.
Palou is one of three drivers to have debuted with CGR by winning their first race (along with Michael Andretti and Dan Wheldon). In the first 55 races contested in the series, he became the third-best driver statistically behind Mario Andretti and A. J. Foyt, with eight wins, twenty-podium finishes, and thirty-seven top-ten finishes. He is the fourth driver to win three consecutive championships, after Ted Horn, Sébastien Bourdais, and Dario Franchitti, as well as the youngest four-time champion in IndyCar history (28 years, 4 months, and 9 days).
Palou was a reserve driver for the McLaren Formula One team in 2022 and 2023, making his debut in free practice for the 2022 United States Grand Prix.
Born in Sant Antoni de Vilamajor, Palou began karting in 2003. He achieved his only international title in the KF3 category of the WSK Euro Series in 2012, when he finished runner-up to George Russell in the CIK-FIA European Championship.
Palou made his open-wheel racing debut competing in the Euroformula Open Championship with Campos Racing in 2014. 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 one point to Artur Janosz.
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 in Abu Dhabi. At the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain, 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 in Austria, 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.[citation needed] He did not finish the second race because of a crash on the first lap.[citation needed]
At the Silverstone Circuit in Great Britain, a gearbox 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 thirteenth. At the Hungaroring in Hungary, 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 eighteenth place finish. At the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit in Belgium, Palou scored his first points in GP3 as the season passed its halfway point. Struggling with tyre wear and lack of speed, Palou finished in seventh 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.[citation needed]
At the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in 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 in Russia, Palou received a new engine that solved the top speed problems he suffered in Belgium and Italy. Because of Carlos Sainz's 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 was ninth in the second one. At the Bahrain International Circuit, 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.[citation needed]
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Álex Palou
Álex Palou Montalbo (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈaləks ˈpalɔw monˈtalbu]; born 1 April 1997) is a Spanish racing driver who drives for Chip Ganassi Racing in the IndyCar Series, where he won the 2021, 2023, 2024, and 2025 championships and the 2025 Indianapolis 500. Palou 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 Indianapolis 500 and the GP3 Series.
Palou is one of three drivers to have debuted with CGR by winning their first race (along with Michael Andretti and Dan Wheldon). In the first 55 races contested in the series, he became the third-best driver statistically behind Mario Andretti and A. J. Foyt, with eight wins, twenty-podium finishes, and thirty-seven top-ten finishes. He is the fourth driver to win three consecutive championships, after Ted Horn, Sébastien Bourdais, and Dario Franchitti, as well as the youngest four-time champion in IndyCar history (28 years, 4 months, and 9 days).
Palou was a reserve driver for the McLaren Formula One team in 2022 and 2023, making his debut in free practice for the 2022 United States Grand Prix.
Born in Sant Antoni de Vilamajor, Palou began karting in 2003. He achieved his only international title in the KF3 category of the WSK Euro Series in 2012, when he finished runner-up to George Russell in the CIK-FIA European Championship.
Palou made his open-wheel racing debut competing in the Euroformula Open Championship with Campos Racing in 2014. 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 one point to Artur Janosz.
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 in Abu Dhabi. At the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain, 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 in Austria, 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.[citation needed] He did not finish the second race because of a crash on the first lap.[citation needed]
At the Silverstone Circuit in Great Britain, a gearbox 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 thirteenth. At the Hungaroring in Hungary, 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 eighteenth place finish. At the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit in Belgium, Palou scored his first points in GP3 as the season passed its halfway point. Struggling with tyre wear and lack of speed, Palou finished in seventh 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.[citation needed]
At the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in 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 in Russia, Palou received a new engine that solved the top speed problems he suffered in Belgium and Italy. Because of Carlos Sainz's 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 was ninth in the second one. At the Bahrain International Circuit, 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.[citation needed]
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