In 2021, the headlines were all about Helio Castroneves. The Meyer Shank Racing driver joined an elite club of four-time Indianapolis 500 winners and cemented himself as an IndyCar immortal.
No more than 100 metres away from the celebrations, Palou commiserated with his Chip Ganassi Racing team.
On the stroke lap 198 of 200, Castroneves made the decisive move for the lead of the race into the first turn.
In that moment, most would have thought it was too soon to take the lead.
Palou should have had a chance to fight back a lap later, but Castoneves could see a gaggle of cars ahead of him that proved the difference between winning and losing.
Stuck behind a train of six slower cars, the dirty air denied Palou an opportunity to return serve and ultimately he had to settle for second.
The lesson he learned that day was how to use slower cars to his advantage.
This year, Palou passed Marcus Ericsson for the lead with 14 laps to go and never relinquished the top spot. Sat behind two slower cars, the dirty air prevented the Swede from attacking.
And Palou knew it.
“I knew that because of how the strategies were shaking up at the end that we were going to have traffic,” he explained.
“So traffic, even though you were P2, you were actually P5 or P4 (on the road). So you had to take that into account.
“So I was just trying my best to try and read it and get on top of it. I think I got lucky, as well, on timing.
“I got the opportunity to pass Marcus already towards the end of my tyre life because after that, I was struggling a lot, especially the last six or seven laps.
“But yeah, I think I’m here because of 2021 for sure.”
The current generation of cars are susceptible to dirty air. The top two cars with clear air can jockey for the lead, but anyone behind them often suffers in the middle of the sting.
Palou benefitted from the fact that even with a tyre life deficit, Ericsson’s tyres were wearing out too. Couple that with the dirty air and the Andretti Global driver had no recourse.
Palou credited Castroneves for his 2025 win. If not for that loss, Palou said he wouldn’t have known how to approach the closing stanza of this year’s race.
“For sure, yeah. He was an amazing teacher. It was an expensive class, honestly,” the Spaniard laughed.
“Yes. I would have liked to still win 2021. I would say there’s part of luck, as well. Like you need to have the traffic at the right time, and yes, you need to be able to read it, but everything was falling to my way and then I had to overtake Marcus.
“I don’t know if he thought he was safe or if he was not thinking that traffic was playing a big role on the race or not, but yeah, glad that the 2021 class paid off.”
Palou has been the class of the field this year. From seven races to date, he has won all but two.
Speaking with Speedcafe after Palou’s breakthrough win, which also marked his first oval triumph, Chip Ganassi Racing team manager Blair Julian hailed the three-time champion.
Julian said he sees the same attributes in Palou as he sees in six-time champion Scott Dixon, who is widely considered IndyCar’s finest of the modern era.
“His ability to process all this information, what’s going on… and that’s what was so good about Scott. It’s been a kind of a key thing of Scott being able to process so much information, like keep track of who’s on what strategy behind them,” said Julian.
“It’s incredible that they can be thinking about that still and getting the job done out there on the track and defending.
“It’s those guys who are the one percent guys that are just extraordinary and just so talented that just a little separation makes them have seasons like this where they just dominate.”
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