The IndyCar circus has been dormant since the 2025 season ended 183 days ago, and in spite of that lengthy off season, it doesn’t seem any of the drivers in the series have figured out a way to beat four-time champion Álex Palou and his Chip Ganassi Racing team. Sunday’s St. Petersburg Grand Prix once again went Palou’s way as he brute forced his way to the front and delivered the largest margin of victory in the history of the event. Palou came home a full 12.49 seconds ahead of pole man Scott McLaughlin. He kept his cool and made it look easy.
It may be a little early in the season, but allow me to be the first to congratulate Mr. Palou on winning his fifth IndyCar title in 2026. Sure, there are still 17 races in the season to be run, but all that feels more or less like a formality at this point. I’ve seen this guy get better every single year, and while everyone else on the grid is still dang fast, they’re not developing at the same pace.
On Sunday Palou ran a strategy that very few other drivers in the field chose to take. With the new 2026 rulebook requiring every car to run two stints on soft tires and one stint on hards, Palou started the race on softs, ran softs again in the middle stint, and moved to the hards to close out the race. The top competitors started on the hards and closed with two sets of soft tires, hoping to catch up to Palou in that final stint with a tire advantage. Not only did Palou work himself a huge gap to the chasing pack, but he stayed fast on the worse set of tires. It was magic.
The once and future champ
IndyCar is a more or less spec series with some of the top international drivers and incredibly talented teams of individuals. There’s no way any one driver should be able to dominate the way Palou routinely does. The cars are the same, the tires are the same, everyone has essentially the same equipment. In 2026 the main differences between cars on the grid are how their dampers are tuned, and teams are spending millions to have an infinitesimally small advantage over one another. All of that is moot if you don’t have Palou in the car.
It looks like 2026 is shaping up to be another Palou versus the world season. I was hoping that McLaren could bring a tighter ship to the grid this year for its superstar driver Pato O’Ward, or Penske could figure out a few of the things that have been plaguing the team for the last couple of years. It’s possible both will be able to improve through the season, but St. Pete didn’t fill me with a ton of confidence that Álex will have anyone to push him to be faster, except himself. We’re witnessing a generationally talented run in IndyCar right now, and I love to see the Spaniard succeed.
Nobody but Palou has led the IndyCar championship since June of 2024, so just let that little factoid sink in for a moment. This weekend’s run at Phoenix will be Palou’s 100th race in the series, and St. Pete marked his race victory. There isn’t a driver in IndyCar right now who could deliver that kind of win rate, and now that Palou has essentially closed the door on a potential run in Formula One, there isn’t anything coming to save the current grid from his pace.
