Alex Palou spent 2025 doing what nearly no IndyCar driver has done in almost 20 years, and he walked into Long Beach on Saturday saying none of it mattered anymore. After a season that included a career-high eight victories, the Indianapolis 500, a third straight series title and a fourth championship overall, Palou said, “Who cares about what we did last year?”
That is not false modesty. It is the view from the top of the standings, where the Spanish driver arrived at Long Beach second and two points behind Kyle Kirkwood after winning two of the first four races on the 2026 schedule. Palou has captured 10 of the last 21 checkered flags dating to 2024, and he said the only thing that counts now is what comes next: “It’s cool to have four championships, but the only important year is 2026.”
Long Beach is one of the few prizes on the IndyCar circuit that Palou has not yet won, and it was the next stop on a calendar that has already shown he has lost little speed. He was set to qualify Saturday for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Long Beach after finishing second there last April and running off three straight podium finishes at the 1.968-mile street course with 11 turns. Passing is difficult there because the track is tight and bumpy, which makes position harder to win and easier to lose.
Palou’s insistence on wiping the slate clean fits the way he has spoken about his rise. He grew up in the tiny Catalan village of Sant Antoni de Vilamajor, started kart racing around the same time he started grade school and was 15 when he finished second in the 2012 European karting championship. He said then, and still says now, that racing did not begin with a grand plan. “Honestly, my goal was just to have fun,” he said. “When we started, I never wanted to be a race car driver for a living.” He added, “I never thought that it would be possible.”
The numbers have made the dream look inevitable. Palou is the most successful Spanish driver in IndyCar history, overtaking the place once held by Fernando Alonso as Spain’s top open-wheel name. Alonso remains the benchmark in broader terms, while Carlos Sainz Jr. has won four Formula One races and Pedro de la Rosa made more than 100 Formula One starts and reached the podium once. Palou’s record is different, and in some ways more complete: sustained domination on a variety of tracks, a 2025 in which he made the podium 13 times in 17 races, and a run of 2026 results that has kept him near the front before April is out.
The friction is that even a season like last year’s does not buy anything in this one. Palou said he needs to treat 2026 separately and try to win as many races as possible before turning to the Indianapolis 500 and the championship. “Everybody started with zero points on the board and we need to do it all over again,” he said. That is the message from a driver who has already won the biggest race in America, already secured four titles and still speaks like someone trying to make the next lap count more than the last one.
