Álex Palou

Álex Palou Montalbo (; 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, 2025, and 2026 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 the third driver with the most IndyCar championships and its predecessors, behind A. J. Foyt (7) and Scott Dixon (6). He 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, the youngest four-time champion in IndyCar history (28 years, 4 months, and 9 days), and the second driver to achieve four consecutive IndyCar or Champ Car championships, a feat previously accomplished by Sébastien Bourdais, as well as the only to win five titles in six years.

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.

Early years 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.

Euroformula Open 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.

Racing in Europe

GP3 Series 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. He did not finish the second race because of a crash on the first lap.

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.

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.

At the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, 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. 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.

Palou took his third podium from six World Series Formula V8 3.5 races at the Circuit of the Americas.

World Series Formula V8 3.5

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 tenth in the championship. Palou finished 2017 with Campos Racing in two Formula 2 rounds, where he scored five 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 eighth. These two rounds finished him 21st in the championship.

FIA Formula 3 European Championship

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 seven podiums and ended the year seventh in the championship.

Racing in Japan

Japanese Formula 3 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 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 fifteenth 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 nineteenth in the race. This dropped him to third in the championship in the end.

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

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. His manager in the IndyCar series is former IndyCar driver Roger Yasukawa.

In his first race for the team at the 2020 Genesys 300 at Texas Motor Speedway, Palou 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

2022

Palou started 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. The title would eventually be lost to Penske's Will Power, but Palou still finished fifth (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. 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.coms Marshall Pruett)

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. Chip Ganassi Racing responded to this by releasing a statement reiterating their claim to Palou's services. On 27 July 2022, Chip Ganassi Racing confirmed they had filed a civil lawsuit against Palou in Marion County, Indiana. 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. Palou was then set to switch to McLaren for the 2024 season. 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, according to Brown. 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.

In January 2026, the London High Court ruled that Palou has to compensate Arrow McLaren $12 million for losses suffered by Palou’s change of mind while dismissing McLaren Racing's claim against Palou. Palou took pole position for the 2023 Indianapolis 500 before finishing the race in fourth.

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. Palou took his second victory of the season at the Detroit Grand Prix, 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.

2024 Palou had another strong start to 2024, finishing in the top five in eight of the first ten points scoring races, picking up wins on the IMS Road Course and at Laguna Seca, and taking an early points lead in the championship. Although Palou only secured two points paying wins on the season, he also won the $1 Million Challenge, a non-championship event. He used consistency throughout the rest of the season to top Colton Herta, Will Power, and Scott McLaughlin for his third IndyCar Series championship, becoming the first Indy car driver to win back to back championships since Dario Franchitti did in 2009, 2010 and 2011 seasons.

2025

Palou started the season with winning the first two rounds at St. Petersburg and Thermal. He later won three straight races in a row, with Barber, IMS Grand Prix, and the Indianapolis 500, becoming the first Spaniard to win the event and his first win on an oval. He later won at Road America after passing teammate Scott Dixon with two laps to go. At Mid-Ohio, Palou was leading Dixon by four seconds with six laps to go when he went off track, allowing Dixon to pass and take the win. Palou would win from pole at Iowa in Race 2, as well as Laguna Seca. After Portland, Palou clinched his third consecutive series title and fourth in his career, thus becoming the first IndyCar driver to have won both the Indianapolis 500 and the IndyCar championship in the same season since Dario Franchitti in 2010; he also became the first driver to win three consecutive IndyCar titles since Franchitti in 2009, 2010, and 2011.

2026

Palou had another strong start to 2026, winning the first four out of eight rounds at St. Petersburg, Barber, Long Beach and Detroit. From the Indy Road Course to Road America, he won five-straight poles. On July 13, he went to the White House to help promote the Freedom 250 Grand Prix along with David Malukas and Felix Rosenqvist. President Donald Trump (center) with three drivers involved in the race; from left to right: David Malukas, Palou and Felix Rosenqvist. He also won at Nashville and Portland. At Milwaukee 1, Palou wrapped up his fifth series title.

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, first at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, both together with Pato O'Ward. Palou made his debut in free practice with McLaren at the 2022 United States Grand Prix. On his free practice debut, Palou called the F1 car "insane" and "capable of so much".

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

Other racing ventures Theodor Jensen driving a Palou Motorsport car at the Red Bull Ring in 2024.

Palou owns a team in Eurocup-3 series called Palou Motorsport which currently fields four cars: the No. 16 driven by Filipina Bianca Bustamante, the No. 27 driven by Brazilian Heitor Dall'Agnol, the No. 33 driven by Frenchman Rafaël Pérard, and the No. 48 driven by American James Egozi. Palou Motorsport got three podiums in its debut season in 2023, all of them courtesy of Javier Sagrera. In 2025, the team won three races over the course of the Eurocup-3 Spanish Winter Championship and the main championship. All of those race wins were obtained by Egozi.

Palou's No.2 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R at the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Palou competed in the 2025 12 Hours of Sebring with Meyer Shank Racing in the GTP class.

Personal life On 4 December 2023, Palou and his wife Esther welcomed their first child. They reside in Indianapolis.

Karting record

Karting career summary

Racing record

Career summary As Palou was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points. 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 NÜR1 NÜR2 ALG1 ALG2 JER1 JER2 HUN1 HUN2 SIL1 SIL2 SPA1 SPA2 MNZ1 MNZ2 CAT1 CAT2 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 CATFEA CATSPR RBRFEA RBRSPR SILFEA SILSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR SOCFEA SOCSPR BHRFEA BHRSPR YMCFEA YMCSPR 10th 51 2016 Campos Racing CATFEA CATSPR RBRFEA RBRSPR SILFEA SILSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR HOCFEA HOCSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR SEPFEA SEPSPR YMCFEA YMCSPR 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 OKA11 OKA12 OKA13 SUZ11 SUZ12 FUJ11 FUJ12 OKA21 OKA22 SUZ21 SUZ22 FUJ21 FUJ22 MOT1 MOT2 MOT3 AUT1 AUT2 SUG1 SUG2 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 SIL1 SIL2 SPA1 SPA2 MNZ1 MNZ2 JER1 JER2 ALC1 ALC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 MEX1 MEX2 COA1 COA2 BHR1 BHR2 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 Campos Racing BHRFEA BHRSPR CATFEA CATSPR MONFEA MONSPR BAKFEA BAKSPR RBRFEA RBRSPR SILFEA SILSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR JERFEA JERSPR YMCFEA YMCSPR 21st 5

Complete Macau Grand Prix results Year Team Car Qualifying Quali Race Main race Ref 2017 ThreeBond Racing with Drago Corse Dallara F314 21st 18th 11th 2018 B-Max Racing Team Dallara F312 13th 12th DNF

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 PAU1 PAU2 PAU3 HUN1 HUN2 HUN3 NOR1 NOR2 NOR3 ZAN1 ZAN2 ZAN3 SPA1 SPA2 SPA3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 MIS1 MIS2 MIS3 NÜR1 NÜR2 NÜR3 RBR1 RBR2 RBR3 HOC1 HOC2 HOC3 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 FUJ SUZ CHA FUJ AUT SUG MOT 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 AUT SUG FUJ MOT OKA SUZ 3rd 26

Complete Formula One participations (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

American open-wheel racing results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

IndyCar Series (key) Year Team No. Chassis 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 Racingw/ Team Goh 55 Dallara DW12 Honda TXS IMS ROA ROA IOW IOW INDY GTW GTW MOH MOH IMS IMS STP 16th 238 2021 Chip Ganassi Racing 10 ALA STP TXS TXS IMS INDY DET DET ROA MOH NSH IMS GTW POR LAG LBH 1st 549 2022 STP TXS LBH ALA IMS INDY DET ROA MOH TOR IOW IOW IMS NSH GTW POR LAG 5th 510 2023 STP TXS LBH ALA IMS INDY DET ROA MOH TOR IOW IOW NSH IMS GTW POR LAG 1st 656 2024 STP THE1 LBH ALA IMS INDY DET ROA LAG MOH IOW IOW TOR GTW POR MIL MIL NSH 1st 544 2025 STP THE LBH ALA IMS INDY DET GTW ROA MOH IOW IOW TOR LAG POR MIL NSH 1st 711 2026 STP PHX ARL ALA LBH IMS INDY DET GTW ROA MOH NSH POR MRK WSH MIL MIL LAG 1st* 607*

Season still in progress. Non-points-paying, exhibition race.

Indianapolis 500 Year Chassis Engine Start Finish Team 2020 Dallara Honda 7 28 Dale Coyne Racing w/ Team Goh 2021 6 2 Chip Ganassi Racing 2022 2 9 2023 1 4 2024 14 5 2025 6 1 2026 1 7

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Class Make Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Rank Points Ref 2022 Cadillac Racing DPi Cadillac DPi-V.R Cadillac 5.5 L V8 DAY SEB LBH LGA MOH DET WGL MOS ELK PET 24th 266 2024 Cadillac Racing GTP Cadillac V-Series.R Cadillac LMC55R 5. 5 L V8 DAY SEB LBH LGA DET WGL ELK IMS PET 34th 242 2025 Acura Meyer Shank Racingw/Curb-Agajanian GTP Acura ARX-06 Acura AR24e 2.4 L turbo V6 DAY SEB LBH LGA DET WGL ELK IMS PET 28th 587 2026 Acura Meyer Shank Racingw/Curb-Agajanian GTP Acura ARX-06 Acura AR24e 2.4 L Turbo V6 DAY SEB LBH LGA DET WGL ELK IMS PET 19th* 567* Season still in progress.

24 Hours of Daytona results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results (key) (Races in bold''' indicate pole position; races in italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 2024 Cadillac Racing Earl Bamber Alex Lynn Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar 311 7th 7th