Alex Palou could also be a celebrity to these within the motorsports know, however he could be essentially the most dominant athlete the remainder of the sports activities world has but to acknowledge.
By successful his second IndyAutomotive championship final season, the 26-year-old Spaniard achieved what a handful of elite athletes have achieved at that younger age. Putting his motorsports milestone into perspective, Lebron James didn’t win his first NBA title until the age of 27. At that very same age, Conor McGregor knocked out Jose Aldo in 2015 to win his first UFC featherweight crown.
Then there was Tom Brady, who at age 26 gained his second Super Bowl—the second of seven rings.
Palou, nonetheless, has no issues about securing GOAT-level standing at this level of his profession. His purpose for the time being is to proceed grinding and racing his method to his subsequent title. The quest for No. 3 begins March 10 when the 2024 IndyAutomotive season kicks off with the Firestone Grand Prix. With championships comes each alternative and challenges, and judging by his file and race coaching routine, there’s no purpose to query whether or not he’s as much as each duties.
“At the end of the day, being a champion only lasts from September to February,” Palou says. “Once we’re on the monitor once more, I’m final yr’s champion.
The complete IndyAutomotive subject is seeking to knock Palou off the rostrum in 2024. At the identical time, he and Ganassi Racing just lately unveiled its new sponsor, DHL, and the group’s new-look No. 10 Honda.
Palou and a number of different IndyAutomotive superstars can even be adopted by digicam crews and the CW prepares for its second season of 100 Days to Indy. And with all of the racing consideration zeroed in on Palou this season, he’s shortly discovering out that navigating a automotive at 230 mph might really feel like a joyride in contrast with repeatedly conserving tempo together with his daughter Lucia, born this previous December.
“I had no idea about anything about babies or how to how to be a dad or how to just take care of small human, but I knew how to race to be a champion,” he says. “I knew how to put everything together during race weekends and be the best by the end of the year. Being a day looked simple from the outside, but it’s really tough.”
With every win and accolade, the younger driver is making IndyAutomotive—and fatherhood— look easy, but Palou wasn’t anointed with auto racing greatness. His rise to racing’s echelon started with loads of struggles and doubts whereas touring by the decrease circuits. He met uncertainty with elevated work on enhancing his race recreation.
“You need to keep on, on being flexible on adapting on working and finding new ways to go fast,” Palou says, “because I know if I do the same as I’ve done in 2023, the results won’t be the same. People evolve, and setups are completely different. So I need to keep on working on every single aspect of driving.”
Alex Palou Worked His Way From Uncertainty to Unmatched
Palou earned final season’s IndyAutomotive title in dominating style, turning into the primary driver since 2007 (Sebastien Bourdais) to clinch an IndyAutomotive championship earlier than the season finale.
In 17 races, the Spaniard gained 5, together with 13 top-five finishes and 10 podiums. Palou’s excellence allowed the celebration course of to be slightly extra fulfilling the second time round. “It’s actually more exciting, just because you knew what to expect and weren’t left wondering what could happen,” he explains. “You knew how the championship worked and how the battle at the end would go. So you get to enjoy the process a bit more.”
Palou street to racing’s elite started on the age of 5 in Spain when he acquired behind the wheel of a go-kart. He didn’t come from a racing household background—and wasn’t actually thought-about a racing prodigy rising up. Instead he labored his approach by the lower-tier circuits as a youngster, at time by which his expertise was overshadowed by numerous missteps and errors. This was notably true throughout his stint within the GP3 League in 2014 and 2015. Alex Palou admits to struggling—with unhealthy begins, pricey race errors dominating his early motorsports moments, which made shifting up within the racing ranks extra a query mark than conclusion.
“There’s always doubt when you’re doing a sport and the results are not coming,” Palou says. “But at the end, you always trust yourself and have that confidence that you know how to make it happen. Maybe you weren’t 100% for some reason, or you needed a different environment or opportunity, but you always need to trust yourself.”
Despite the frustration and doubts, Alex Palou dug deeper, and caught to his routine of extra work, extra driving and extra concentrate on enhancing mentally and bodily.
That alternative introduced itself over time—bouncing from Japan to Europe till he acquired a break, testing an IndyAutomotive in 2019 and getting his break on the IndyAutomotive Series when he signed with Dale Coyne Racing. A yr later he was signed by Ganassi racing and has loved success since.
“I just changed the work the amount of work in technically, mentally and physically,” he says. “That’s the only thing you can do us as a racecar driver. It’s not like I went to this amazing gym and started doing something different. It was just not giving up and believing that the work would take us where we wanted to be. Without those tough moments, I wouldn’t be as strong mentally as I am now.”
Alex Palou Maintains a Motorsports Mentality
When he’s not continuously racing after his daughter at residence, Palou usually makes use of his remaining down time for—no shock—engaged on enhancing his already top-level race efficiency, whether or not within the gymnasium together with his coach Scott Salcedo, or tremendous tuning his monitor efficiency on a race simulator. Like NBA celebrity Steph Curry’s legendary post-practice shot-draining routine, repetition behind the wheel makes all of the distinction, even when it sounds mundane to the non-motorports fan. “I’m a boring person,” Palou admits.
It’s to not say Palou tried diversifying his sports activities expertise—his ceremonial first pitch at a minor league baseball recreation was a strike. But for the way proficient he’s turn into on the monitor—he’s recorded 9 wins in slightly over 4 IndyAutomotive seasons, by his personal admission, his athletic dominance doesn’t at all times cross over to some other athletic endeavors. “I’m really bad at other sports. I tried to do some pickleball last year, and I was really bad at that as well.”
Palou toyed with the thought of including swimming to his coaching routine throughout the race season, then we gave it a attempt throughout the offseason, he shortly discovered water train more difficult than stress-free. “I’m done with swimming,” he admits. “I thought it would be a lot easier and enjoyable—sort of like running, but in a pool. But you can’t slow down, otherwise you sink.”
His short-lived swimming obsession is among the the reason why Palou stays as constant together with his in-season coaching routine. Any unsuccessful experimentation he says, can have a damaging psychological impact on his efficiency.
“Once I have my routine and prepare for the races leading up to the weekend, I don’t want to change that normal session for something that I don’t whether I’ll feel good or not. The workouts prepare me physically and mentally.”
For that purpose, Alex Palou and firm hold the exercise routines fairly regimented. After his 6 a.m. espresso, he and Salcedo hook up for about 90 minutes of coaching, doing what he calls a “hybrid CrossFit” exercise that emphasizes race-specific objectives. Palou explains the exercises as prioritizing neck, shoulders, and decrease again, the muscle tissue most affected by the sitting within the automotive for 500 miles. This has Palou performing a great deal of pullups, shoulder presses, and sled pulls to take care of energy in these muscle tissue to maintain him robust for your complete race stretch.
With the addition of some cardio, together with some dash work, Palou says the method has helped hold him robust and wholesome. In the spring, viewers will get an opportunity to see a few of his efficiency, because the second season of 100 Days to Indy begins. While he thinks the publicity is a good factor for the league, typically the soft-spoken champion admits to being slightly reluctant to point out his hand, particularly with the cameras rolling.
“It’s fun to show what we do but at the same time you want to be showing how you prepare properly yourself,” Alex Palou says. “Especially, like, training stuff. You don’t want any driver to get an idea of, ‘Oh, Alex is doing this. Maybe we should do this type of neck training [laughs].”
Learning to Train for Greatness Now and the Long Term
Last or close to the underside of Palou’s precedence record is any comparability to different particular person athletes. Despite his title being twice engraved on the game’s iconic Astor Cup, racing is a complete group effort for Palou and Team Ganassi.
It begins with the pit crew—accountable for fueling and changing tires in below eight seconds—who gas and substitute tires in below 8 seconds—together with the mechanics and engineers sustaining the No. 10 DHL Honda week after week, in addition to crew chief Ricky Davis, the eyes and ears who helps navigate Palou each race, and one of many fundamental purpose Palou has been in a position to attain the rostrum an unbelievable 24 out of fifty profession IndyAutomotive races.
“They make all those decisions,” Palou says, “and as a driver you then attempt to put the automotive in the very best place. They do a variety of work that so many individuals don’t know that they’re doing.
Despite sharing the credit score, it’s Palou who will get the general public reward and criticism, a part of the rationale why the psychological put on and tear typically is extra draining than any bodily accidents he’s battled by at this level of his profession. “Mentally, you feel drained from being on track and the tension that comes from having to get results. Once the season’s over, I like to relax a little bit.”
With the exception of some end-of-season posterior muscle aches—primarily within the neck, shoulders, and decrease again—Palou shies away from a lot restoration work. He says he’ll usually incorporate some therapeutic massage remedy throughout a protracted stretch throughout the season.
Although some ideas of invincibility at his younger age, Palou is now discovering the necessity to begin pondering of his future. Toward the top of final season, as he wrapped up his second title, Palou related with a long life legend, surf icon Laird Hamilton. The two hit it off, with Palou admitting to being captivated about what it’s going to take to maintain racking up racing titles—whether or not it’s IndyAutomotive or Formula 1—in his 30s, 40s, even 50s.
“He told me a lot about longevity,” Palou recollects. “He was like, you might not have any issues now and it’s easy because you’re 26, but the key here is to keep performing when you’re 40. It was one of those amazing conversations that afterward you feel so excited and want to go do stuff.”
For Alex Palou, Longevity May Also Be a Team Effort
Palou and Hamilton proceed their correspondence, and Palou hopes to someday get to coach with the Laird Superfood founder, talk usually and should get to coach collectively sooner or later, in addition to recommendation about vitamin. “He was teaching me to begin adding mor fats to my diet for mental stability and focus.”
Hamilton isn’t the one longevity skilled Palou can flip to for recommendation. At age 43, Palou’s Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon is the final word instance of conserving a successful mindset previous 40. The 2008 Indy 500 winner is a six-time IndyAutomotive sequence champion and second the all-time wins record (56). The teammates, with a virtually 20-year age distinction (Dixon turns 44 in July), are set to race this June on the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans.
“Scott’s one of the best if not the best IndyCar driver that we ever had in IndyCar,” he says. “Knowing that he’s your teammate, it’s really rewarding because of how much I can learn from him and how much I can rely on him. When I have doubt and or when they need something. But at the same time is is a headache because I know he has the best team around as well that he will have the same tools as I do and that he has a little bit more experience. It’s tough, but it’s really fun.”
Dixon additionally completed runner-up within the IndyAutomotive standings to Palou, which creates a considerably friendlier problem for Palou with the intention to hold his IndyAutomotive reign for an additional season.
“I was last year’s champion, not this year’s,” Alex Palou says. “So I need to be on my game again. Once your career is over yet they may say you’ve won two, three, four championships. But when you’re competing, you always want to be called the reigning champion.”