For the eleventh time since the start of the 2025 IndyCar season, Alex Palou crossed the line as the winner — and he secured his first victory at Long Beach on Sunday.
Pure joy for the Spanish IndyCar star
Asked what it meant to win at the iconic Long Beach track, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver could not hide his delight.
He also highlighted the crucial role from his team at the final stop that got him in front of Felix Rosenqvist for P1.
“Incredible.
“Feel so, so lucky with the opportunity I had to win the 500 last year, the Long Beach GP this year, it just feels like I’m living on this amazing cloud of happiness.
“Yeah, incredible work by the team today. I think we were fighting there with the 60, trying to match him on the soft tyres. I think we could have fought a little bit, but he was a bit stronger than us today. We were just trying to figure it out, if we were going able to go one lap longer on fuel.
“This full-course yellow put everything on that pit stop. The guys did an incredible job once again.”
An early pass with big significance for Alex Palou at Long Beach
Starting P3, the 29-year-old held that spot on the opening lap. A huge moment in the IndyCar Long Beach race came on lap 2 as a brilliant lunge into turn 1 caught Pato O’Ward out, putting Alex Palou into 2nd place.
The four-time champion explained how key that pass was.
“Yeah, I knew that it was probably one of our only chances to get the pass on Pato.
“I actually saw that during practice, he was the strongest on the used primaries. I wanted to get ahead of him as quick as possible.
“Yeah, I got a really good run out of last corner. I didn’t know if he was going to block or not. I think he probably wasn’t expecting it.”
Alex Palou on whether he felt Felix Rosenqvist was beatable in normal conditions at IndyCar Long Beach race
While there was not much overtaking, the front of the race was intriguing between the top 6-7 cars in the first two stints as less than 10s covered them.
Between the top 2, it was a fascinating battle. After pulling out to a near 2-second gap in the first stint, Felix Rosenqvist had Alex Palou right behind him by the end of it. However, MSR came up clutch in the pits and the #60 stayed ahead.
Through the second stint, the 34-year-old had pulled out a 3-second gap before a caution was thrown on lap 57 for debris. When the field converged behind the pace car and then the stops happened, Palou got the jump.
On the blacks, Palou gapped the Swedish driver by 5s before easing off in the last couple of laps to take the win.
While he is always confident and hopeful, the defending champion admitted it would have been a very tough task to beat Rosenqvist without the caution, even if he went a lap further on fuel.
“You want to think that.
“I mean, I was not giving up. I think it would have been very, very tough for us to get him today. We were trying everything possible to just overset our pit stop, try and get one lap further.
“At the same time he was already three seconds ahead, which is what you lose on an out lap. I think it would have been close.
“I was happy with my car, but struggling a little bit more on the soft tyre than on the hards. On the hards I felt super confident, was able to pull a bigger gap.
“I don’t know. I think it would have been really, really tough. My confidence was high, but I think my chances were low.”
The great feeling of not following another car
No matter what the single-seater series, dirty air is always a problem. Even when a car is multiple seconds behind another, they can feel the turbulence from a driver in front.
Alongside unleashing his full pace on the primary tyre, Palou was concerned about the potential of Scott Dixon in P3 on reds for the last stint of the IndyCar Long Beach race. While Rosenqvist struggled initially to fire up the blacks, he fended off the six-time champion after the tricky first two laps.
“Feeling is great because you spend, what, 60 laps behind a car. Although it’s like two seconds in front of you, it distracts you because you cannot do your exact line. It kind of disturbs a little bit the grip.
“So yeah, when I was up front, it was great. But I just wanted to open a gap to first see if we had pace on the hards because it was the first time we were going to put the hards, and then I wanted to open a gap as soon as possible because I didn’t know if Scott on alternates was going to be able to go faster than us or not.
“Yeah, it’s a nice feeling for the first time when you see open, clear air.”
