It’s only one race, but it was one hell of a statement by Alex Palou and Co. in Sunday’s Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Palou successfully defended last year’s victory on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street circuit, leading 59 of 100 laps and coasting to a race record 12.4948s margin of victory. It was the type of drive that reminded fans and rivals alike why he is the reigning and four-time IndyCar Series champion.
“We’re back,” Palou said.
Barry Wanser, longtime team manager of Chip Ganassi Racing and Palou’s race strategist on the #10 Honda, summarized the performance about as succinctly as one could.
“I was asked to describe how Alex was (Sunday),” Wanser said, “and it was certainly perfection, but the whole team, the pit stops were perfection, and everyone on the team did a great job.”
For a guy that won eight races last year, even the six-month long offseason didn’t seem to halt Palou’s momentum.
“Incredible,” said Palou, who now has 20 wins in 99 career starts.
“I don’t know what to say from this team anymore. It’s been a long offseason. I was sad last year that the season ended. I just wanted to continue going, because I knew it was so magical and so tough to get such a great car, such a great team behind me.
“Yeah, this team has done it again here for this weekend. It’s very early on, but still, I think that shows all the preparation they did, and I had by far the best car (Sunday).”
During the post-race press conference, Motorsport.com asked Palou if he feels beatable.
“Unfortunately, yeah,” Palou said.
When pressed further on what he believes his weakness is that would make him beatable, the 28-year-old Spaniard wasn’t ready to reveal the secret.
“I’m not going to say it here out loud,” Palou said.
To which Wanser lightheartedly teased, “Do you want me to? No, I’m just kidding.”
Palou wasn’t afraid to elaborate a bit more, noting his failure to secure pole in the race and having to start fourth. There was also the additional thought of being able to brake later, get to power sooner, and improve the setup of the car.
“You can always keep on improving, I feel like, in all sports, which is the beauty of it,” Palou said. “So, yeah, not going to tell you where everybody can beat me, but…”
Palou’s rivals haven’t figured it out yet, though.
“Yeah, every time I’m on the podium, second or third, he’s first,” said Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard, who finished third. “It’s pretty annoying.”
So how close does Palou feel his competitors are to him right now?
“Closer than it seems,” Palou said. “It looks very good on TV. It looks very good on paper. It’s actually super close.
“If you don’t make that decision on the tires or that decision on fuel or the pit stop doesn’t go well, you suddenly are not P1. You don’t have clean air. You start pushing more, and suddenly you are P4. You can go from a race that you win by 12 or 10 seconds to finishing P4, and it only takes one action not to work for it to go bad.
“Honestly, it’s not easy to win races. Although it might seem like it, it takes a lot of stuff to go well for it to happen.”
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– The Motorsport.com Team