In the closing laps of the 2025 Portland Grand Prix, Spaniard Álex Palou earned his fourth title in dramatic fashion while pushing, perhaps too far, for the race victory. It was races like this one that show exactly how Palou has earned his four titles in five seasons with Chip Ganassi Racing, with relentless drive and incredible talent. Once his only remaining title rival, McLaren’s Patricio O’Ward, dropped several laps down with engine troubles, the world could have forgiven Palou for simply trundling around and securing his championship points score with a somewhat conservative top ten finish.
A DIVE BY PALOU! 😯@lundgaardoff fights back and gets back to P2. pic.twitter.com/Q5OiYBOmun
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) August 10, 2025
The DHL driver doesn’t play that game, however, and he was flat out until the finish. A hard scrabble battle between himself and Christian Lundgaard ended with the yellow and red machine taking evasive action deep into the grass and jumping a short dirt berm to get back on track. Palou was within a second of race leader Will Power, and he wasn’t going to go down without a fight. This was never going to end with a mid-tier strategy battle and a coast to the finish line. Palou wanted that race win, and if something had gone slightly differently in the way the top three caught traffic, or if a caution had been thrown, he might well have had it. He had fresher tires, he was lapping faster than the field in the closing minutes, and he had the desire.
The difference between a good driver and a four-time champion is to know when you can and can’t take risks, and push for the win anyway.
Hello Palou
Aside from a middling performance at the Toronto round last month, and getting shunted from behind on the streets of Detroit, Palou has had a nearly flawless season in 2025. He kicked off the run with five wins and a second-place finish from the first six rounds of the season, including his first win on an oval, May’s Indianapolis 500. In any other series that would have been pretty much game over already, but the IndyCar grid is packed with immense talent and tight racing, so there was always a chance that someone else would mount a points battle in the back half of the season to challenge Palou. Grabbing three more victories and two more podiums from rounds seven through 15 pushed him well beyond catchable, and gave the world a sense of just who they were dealing with. This young driver, still just 28 years old, has earned his fourth title in American open wheel racing, and he’s got at least another decade of winning in the sport before he’ll be considered retirement age. Hell, the guy who won the race for Team Penske, Will Power, is 44 years old himself.
Only three other drivers have secured four titles in American open wheel racing history, maybe you’ve heard of them: Mario Andretti, Dario Franchitti, and Sébastien Bourdais. And only two drivers have eclipsed that number, as Scott Dixon has six titles and AJ Foyt has seven. With a massive grid of impressive international talent, Palou’s quartet is easily as impressive as any of the other big winners, if not more so. With every driver in IndyCar running the same Dallara chassis and no clear engine specs advantage between Honda and Chevrolet, there’s very little to explain Palou’s success, but he’s taken to this sport como un pato a agua.
