Alex Palou was at the forefront during the 2026 IndyCar Arlington Qualifying. A stark improvement from the Chip Ganassi Racing driver’s shocking DNF in Phoenix last weekend. Unfortunately, it was his former teammate Marcus Ericsson who snatched the pole from him in the Fast 6, leaving Palou in P2.
Brakes not hot enough at Arlington Qualifying
Conventional thinking is that the Fast 6 get an advantage by keeping their brakes hot, however Palou wasn’t able to be fastest on the track. Speaking to print media following the 2026 IndyCar Arlington Qualifying, the Spanish driver expressed he could’ve been on pole if he had just 20 more minutes.
“Tough to say, but yeah. I think there was like more than 20 minutes between my last lap in Fast 12 until my out lap in Fast Six. Only having an out lap just doesn’t allow you to warm up the brakes or the tires or anything.“
Reflecting on the other rounds, Palou knows he was faster during Round 1 and the Fast 12. He made 1:33.405 during Round 2 but added more than a full second to his best time by the Fast 6. Palou thought tyre temperatures were to blame, but said it might not have made a difference at the 2026 Arlington Qualifying.
“I was slower than what I did on old tires on the previous sessions. I think tire temp made a difference. Having said that, I don’t know if I would have matched his lap time. He was pretty fast. I’m happy with a P2, honestly. I feel like the lap that he did, it’s probably close to what he did on new tires. It’s a pretty good lap even on warm tires.“
Palou faces challenges with 2026 Arlington Qualifying format
Palou wished the team had one lap to warm up so that he could warm up those brakes. With the new Qualifying format for Arlington, drivers sat in the pit lane waiting for their turn. He continued that the new format affected everyone but might require some adjustment on his part.
“I wish that we had at least one lap to warm up, just so it would give us the option of pushing right away or warming up. But it’s the same for everybody, so…”
Ericsson P1 today, but not tomorrow
Though they are rivals, Palou and Ericsson were teammates on CGR for three years. They have always maintained a good friendship after Ericsson’s move to Andretti Global in 2024. Palou was complimentary to his former teammate, who claimed his first pole position at the 2026 IndyCar Arlington Qualifying.
“Yeah, I have a great friendship with him. I think he deserves it. He’s a really good driver. Happy to see him there.“
The CGR driver’s competitive side came out as he said, “Hopefully not tomorrow, but happy to see him there today.”
Windy qualifying on the streets of Arlington
The four-time IndyCar champion wasn’t fazed by the wind on the track, though, he admitted it picked up. Palou said that they would’ve picked up more speed during the Arlington Qualifying. However, he did agree that it would make a huge impact on the balance of the No. 10 Ganassi entry.
“It was not too bad, although it picked up quite a lot. I don’t think it was affecting the car much. I feel like if we would have had tailwind going into 10 and picking up those extra five to ten miles an hour, that would have made a big impact on car balance.“
Palou remained hopeful that the weather will hold up ahead of the 2026 IndyCar Arlington race.
“Hopefully, if it stays just sideways like it was today, I think it’ll be all right.”
Hopefully just headwind
The Spaniard plans to adapt if the wind picks up tomorrow. If the IndyCar Arlington race comes with increasing tailwind, he is prepared to brake early as speeds pick up. Palou hopes that there’s time to warm up and adjust, but knows that everyone will be in the same boat.
“I mean, there’s not much you can do as a driver. Just trying to adapt — obviously we have tailwind. Just going to have to brake earlier, because we’re going to get so much more top speed.
“If we have just headwind, it’s going to be fine.
“I feel like, hopefully it’s not straight into the race, so we can at least adapt in warmup, or it goes throughout the race. Because if it’s on the first couple laps, it’ll be tough for everyone.”
Alternate tyres degrade on Arlington street course
Compared to other street circuits like St. Pete, the alternates degraded quite quickly this weekend. Though alternate tyres are faster, Palou looks at switching to primaries for the 2026 Arlington race.
“Yeah, they behave very differently to what we’ve seen in St. Pete, and it’s the same exact tire both, the primaries and the alternates. Yeah, for some reason this track and this tarmac seems to like — I mean, the alternates are faster, but it seems to be that they’re having a lot more deg than what we saw in St. Pete. Having said that, there was a lot of cars struggling with tire deg with the alternates in St. Pete, as well.“
Palou predicts lots of cautions due to the two alternate requirement. There will be many strategies to optimize the IndyCar Arlington race, and he is looking forward to seeing what shakes out.
“Yeah, it’ll be interesting because everybody has to run two sets of alternates. Let’s see how many cautions we get. I feel like it’s going to be a ton. Let’s see what the strategy, how it shakes out.”
Palou is wary of the cliff after Arlington Qualifying
The CGR driver believes the alternates aren’t an absolute write-off, but can last a full stint if taken care of during the 2026 IndyCar Arlington race. He does acknowledge that it is tough to understand the trade-off point between optimal performance and the drop-off.
“Honestly, I have no idea. I don’t think as soon as possible. I just think that there was at least six to eight tenths difference between a brand new set of primaries to a brand new set of alternates. I feel like if you take care of them, probably you can do a full stint. It’s just going to be tough, and it’s going to be tough to manage or understand what’s the trade-off point of when the primaries start being faster.“
The No. 10 driver thinks the tyres have actually improved since last season. Palou said the alternates are faster for a couple of laps before the deg kicks in on the streets of Arlington.
“But for sure there’s a couple laps, like maybe it’s five or six or ten laps that the alternates are faster than the primaries. I don’t think it’s what we had last season of, like, you do one lap and you’re done.”
