Alex Palou won his third IndyCar championship this season for Chip Ganassi Racing after putting together a superb campaign.
The Spaniard was incredibly consistent over the season, finishing in and around the top five while minimising the bad results.
Palou won two championship rounds as well as the $1 Million Challenge at The Thermal Club, which laid the foundations for the title-winning campaign.
He drove well on a range of circuits, particularly on road courses which he is very familiar with after racing on them in Europe.
Despite winning his third championship for Chip Ganassi Racing in four seasons, Palou told NBC Sports that there is one aspect of his IndyCar career that he isn’t pleased with.
Alex Palou ‘isn’t proud’ of his record on ovals in IndyCar
Palou has performed admirably since making his IndyCar debut in 2020, being immediately at the front of the field.
Despite taking three championships against much more experienced drivers, such as his teammate Scott Dixon and Team Penske’s Will Power, he still hasn’t won on an oval.
Ovals are very difficult to master, particularly for drivers outside of North America who didn’t sharpen their skills from an early age on that type of circuit.
He has been very close to winning on an oval, taking pole position for the Indy 500 in 2023 despite Palou feeling nervous at The Brickyard.
The Spaniard admitted he isn’t pleased with his performances on ovals but is adamant he is on the verge of taking his first oval win.
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He explained: “I’m not proud at all about that stat, obviously. I’m proud that we haven’t lost time on winning championships while I’m still getting up to speed on the ovals, but I’m not proud that we haven’t won on an oval yet.
“We’ve been knocking on that door. I’ve been pushing myself. Everybody on the team has been pushing to try and get that one, but it was not the year yet.
“We will be working, we will be preparing and hopefully we can knock two big goals that we have, which is the oval win and the Indy 500 win, in one weekend next year.”
Alex Palou feels he struggles to get 100% out of the car on ovals
Palou has delivered some good results on ovals including taking second place in the second race at Iowa Speedway, which helped him to his third IndyCar championship.
Ovals can be tricky to manage, particularly in IndyCar as there as Superspeedways such as the Indy 500 and short ovals like Iowa.
This requires different downforce packages and ovals events outside of the Indy 500 have relatively little practice time.
Palou feels he lacks ultimate speed on ovals and is not maximising his car, which has cost him points. If he were to win on an oval, it would be a significant step forward for the three-time champions he is looking for another title.