🇪🇸 Alex Palou

Alex Palou is an elite professional single-seater driver, rated 7,470 and ranked ninth among active drivers, FIA Platinum graded. He races full seasons in IndyCar for Chip Ganassi Racing, taking in both oval rounds and road or street circuits, and has also made occasional sports car appearances, driving for Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian in IMSA WeatherTech and for Cadillac Racing in the WEC.[1]

Palou has won five IndyCar championships, in 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026, the first Spaniard to win a national championship in American open-wheel racing; his 2025 season also included victory in the Indianapolis 500. Across 116 IndyCar starts he has taken 26 wins and 52 podiums. Before IndyCar he came up through Europe's single-seater ladder, taking seven podiums from 26 FIA Formula 3 European starts for Hitech Bullfrog GP, a win and two podiums from 33 GP3 Series starts with Campos Racing, the first such win by a Spaniard, and a win from seven Super Formula starts with TCS Nakajima Racing in Japan. More recently he has added limited sports car outings, including a podium from a single start for Mercedes-AMG Team Lone Star Racing in GT World Challenge America and a one-off WEC appearance for Cadillac Racing that placed him 22nd in that championship's final standings.[2]

In IndyCar, Palou's most frequent rivals are Scott Dixon, a five-time series champion in 2003, 2008, 2013, 2018 and 2020 and FIA Platinum graded, and Pato O'Ward, an elite professional and FIA Gold graded 2018 Indy NXT champion; he is closely matched with both. Earlier in his career, racing for Campos Racing in GP3 and Formula 2, he finished ahead of Lando Norris, later the 2025 Formula 1 champion, and twice ahead of George Russell, the 2018 Formula 2 champion.