Alex Palou is dominating the IndyCar championship and enjoys a commanding 74-point advantage atop the standings.
The Chip Ganassi driver has won three of the last four races and produced an admirable comeback at the Indy 500 to finish fourth.
Despite his huge lead, Palou is wary that the Spaniard hasn’t won his second IndyCar title yet and shed light on the mentally needed to manage a championship fight as he told Pit Debrief and other media outlets in a press event ahead of Mid-Ohio.
“It’s still early. We had some races, but it’s still very early. Now the season is going to go by really fast because we have nine race weekends in less than 12 weeks. It’s going to go by really fast.
“In INDYCAR we saw last year, for example, that Will Power won the championship by winning only one race but always being consistent. Then Newgarden won five races and wasn’t able to get the championship.
“The point is that it’s very tough to have a points lead in INDYCAR because somebody can just get a roll like we’re having and win five races in a row, then suddenly your gap goes flying like that.”
Palou explained that he is mentality is about focusing on one session at a time rather than the championship as a whole.
“Mentally I’m just focused on one race at a time, one practice at a time. I think that’s the best mentality, try to maximize everything and try and get as many wins as we can, being as consistent as we’ve been doing this year.”
The 26-year-old won his first IndyCar title in 2021, seeing off Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward in a tense title decider at Long Beach.
PitDebrief.com asked Palou about the upcoming race at Mid-Ohio whether he could’ve imagined enjoying such a dominant start to the season with such a competitive field.
“No, for sure not. I wouldn’t say that it’s dominant, honestly. I would say that the points that we have now look better than what our races has been. We are just able to maximise everything well.
“Others, they couldn’t really maximise everything. It still counts. We still have that gap and all those points, which it’s great. But I don’t think it’s dominating. It’s just maximising.
“I would never have thought about it honestly. I was blown away by having the opportunity to race with Dale Coyne in 2020, being part of INDYCAR.
“I wanted to win a race. I was blown away by the chance to fight with Ganassi, then winning the championship.”
