INDIANAPOLIS – Alex Palou drove with all the savvy of a proven veteran in Sunday’s 105th Indianapolis 500 as the 24-year-old found himself in a fierce fight to the finish with one of the most successful drivers in the history of the race, 46-year-old Helio Castroneves.
Palou led 35 laps in the 200-lap Indianapolis 500 and was in the lead with four laps to go when he passed Castroneves. But it was too soon to make the move to the front as Castroneves was able to use Palou’s draft out of turn four and slingshot his way past the Spaniard down the long frontstraight to make the race-winning pass with two laps to go.
Castroneves defeated Palou by .4928 seconds to become the fourth four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500.
“When he passed me, I was like, ‘Oh, maybe that’s going to be bad for me just because we were reaching the traffic,’” Palou recalled. “As soon as you’re on traffic, you’re not P2 anymore, you’re like P8. When you are P8 on a pack, it was not easy to pass today.
“I still tried, fight for it, turn three, turn four. It was not enough. For sure the traffic made the things a bit more difficult today. That’s part of racing. At some other areas, some other parts of the race the traffic was helping me. This time Helio was a bit luckier at the end. Yeah, he deserves it.”
But Palou has established himself as one of the great young racing stars of the NTT IndyCar Series.
Still, the pain of defeat was close to the surface, 30 minutes after the race had finished.
“It hurts,” Palou said. “It hurts a lot. I didn’t expect that a second place would hurt that much until I crossed the finish line. But I’m super proud, super happy. I think the No. 10 NTT Data car was super-fast. I had the best car for sure.
“I was really confident. It was a close battle until the end. The good thing is that the two cars were Honda powered. That’s good. Congrats to Helio and Honda. I tried everything. It hurts. But to be honest, it’s good to lose against probably one of the best. Well, it’s one of the best, probably the best. Yeah, it’s Helio.
“I don’t know why, but he had three, and why he wanted four? He could have given me one. I just wanted one. But it’s okay. We’ll come back next year, for sure.”
Palou, who won the season-opening race at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, Ala., on April 18, regained the NTT IndyCar Series points lead from teammate Scott Dixon, who finished 17th after having an engine issue when his car ran out of fuel during his first pit stop.
Palou has a 36-point lead over Dixon heading to the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle June 12-13.
“I’m not thinking about that too much,” Palou said. “I think when you start thinking about the championship, if you’re not executing on track, there’s no point. If you are executing on track, it makes no point either.
“We just try to make session by session as we’ve been doing. If we keep doing what we’ve been doing everywhere, I think we’ll be able to fight until the end for this championship.
“For sure it’s good to get a little bit of gap now after the 500. I think we’ve been able to get a lot of points in our, let’s say, weaker places like Texas and here. Super proud about that. Cannot wait to go to my area, let’s say. I’m more comfortable there.
“Yeah, super happy. We’ll keep on fighting.”
Palou will be back to battle another day, but first he has to deal with the stinging pain of defeat in the biggest race of the world.
It’s been said that losing feels worse than winning feels good. Palou is a testament to that after Sunday’s Indianapolis 500.
“It’s the beauty about racing. When it hurts, it’s good because you know there’s something better,” Palou said. “When you win, it’s like the most satisfying thing.
“When you lose, for me, c’mon, we finished second in my second Indy 500. How can I be sad? It just hurts a little bit because I wanted that win more than anything, but Helio wanted it as well. I think all the 33 drivers wanted the same.
“I’m happy. I’m living the dream, man. I’m able to drive the fastest car for the best team around Indianapolis and fight for it. Everything was good today.”