Álex Palou Might Never Stop Winning IndyCar Championships

Three rounds into the 2025 IndyCar season and it seems absolutely nobody can bring the fight to Ganassi driver Álex Palou. The 28-year-old Spaniard has won three of the last four IndyCar championships, and is already well on his way to a fourth with a 34-point gap to second place. He's already got two wins and a second-place finish from three races, and no other driver on the grid even found the podium thrice. While the other drivers in the series — at least fifteen of them among the best drivers in the world — seem to be able to show flashes of brilliance, nobody can put together a season like Palou seems to be able to. 

Even when he doesn't quite have what it takes to win, as was the case in Long Beach on Sunday, he qualified third and raced his way to second without ever putting himself at risk. He's evolved into a very safe and smart pair of hands. He's very calm and calculated, as any generationally talented racer must be. I think we might be on for a run of championships in the vein of a Schumacher, Hamilton, Loeb, or Bourdais if he keeps this up. At this point I think the only thing that could stop Palou from racking up more IndyCar hardware is if he gets drafted into Formula One. 

Prior to getting the call up to IndyCar in 2020, a young Álex was considering hanging up his racing helmet and going back home to Cataluña to run a coffee shop with his girlfriend. Since then he's gone on to win three championships and fourteen races in the series. Despite his successes the defending champion still has yet to win an oval race in the series, though he's never placed outside the top ten at the Indy 500 since joining Ganassi. 

Statistically Palou merely needs to score between 30 and 38 points per round to come out victorious and right now he's sitting on a nearly 48 points per round average in the first three races. He won the championship in 2024 with just three race victories and four further podiums. As evidenced by an effortless podium at the Long Beach round, he's at the top of his form and has the best start to an IndyCar season since Scott Dixon's three-in-a-row to start his 2020 championship-winning effort. Barring any major bad luck by Palou or Ganassi, this already looks like championship form, and the other drivers will have to really step up their game to do anything to stop them. 

It goes without saying that the 2025 IndyCar season, which ends in late August, still has a long way to go. Perhaps I'm acting prematurely here, but you'd absolutely be a fool to bet against Palou after the form we've seen from him these last few years. He's unflappable and manages to make hay while the sun is shining. We've only seen three rounds of the 17-round season, and literally anything could happen. That said, I wouldn't be surprised to see him finally take an oval win, if not Indy, this year. 

You know what? Screw it. Congratulations on your fourth championship, Álex.