IndyCar St. Pete
Palou happy to bounce back from crash and practice struggles
Defending IndyCar champion Alex Palou said he was satisfied to climb from 10th on the grid to finish runner-up at St. Petersburg, capping a strong comeback from a heavy shunt and Chip Ganassi Racing’s initial struggles on the street course.
David Malsher-Lopez
Edited: Feb 28, 2022, 12:36 AM
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Palou finished just half a second behind winner Scott McLaughlin, and admitted afterwards: “I don't think we had the pace he had today. Like he was on rails, and he knew where to go fast and where to obviously save some fuel at the end. I was just there trying to make some pressure so hopefully he made a mistake or anything, but no, he was all good.”
But in the overall context of the weekend, he said his run to second was “a really good day for the #10 car. I was able to get some guys at the start and then on Turn 3 or Turn 4, as well. I was pretty happy. The crew did an amazing job during the pit stops… The boys did a really good job during the preseason to try and be good as they were and ready today.
“We didn't have any data, so I don't think that the team was able to see the fuel we had. I was not able to see the fuel number I was hitting, so that makes it a bit hard, but anyway… I think it's always good to start with a great result. If it doesn't come, it's okay. There's a lot of races. But obviously it helps if you can get a good result and a podium is an awesome result to start the season.”
The Ganassi cars of Marcus Ericsson, Palou and Scott Dixon were only 15th, 17th and 20th in first practice, but Palou was seventh when everyone ran their one set of red tires in second practice. However, he then had a nasty crash at Turn 9 after clipping the apex wall and being spat into the outside wall almost head on.
Yet come qualifying, this trio were seventh, eighth and tenth, Palou only two-tenths off Dixon and one-tenth off Ericsson. For the race, Palou elected to go on a two-stop strategy, while Dixon went for three, figuring the alternate Firestones would not last long. But with only one caution period, two-stops was the way to go. While Dixon was predictably the best of the three-stoppers, he could only salvage eighth, whereas Palou climbed to second and was shadowing winner McLaughlin over the closing stint.
“I think everybody saw how we started the weekend,” said Palou, who scored eight podiums including three wins in 2021. “We started struggling, but I think everybody saw, as well, how we were able to come back and just improve our car and our performance overall.
“I still think that our qualifying pace is not there yet, like suddenly today in the warmup we were up there where we thought we would have been on qualifying. We struggled to get one lap, especially on street courses, but we're getting there. I think last year we got 17th here as a result and had no real pace, so today we had pace and also scored a podium. Pretty happy… We're moving forward, and we're proving that it's working.”
Palou paid tribute to the Ganassi crew who rebuilt his car, and also expressed happiness with his best result on a street course.
He smiled: “My little contact with the wall in Practice 2 didn't help at all, but the crew did an amazing job once again like they did last year during the Indy 500 to put a car back together before qualifying – and a fast car, as well, so we had no issues. We went out and started in the top 10 today, and we were able to just attack and pass cars one by one with amazing pit stops…
“I did like three races on street courses before joining IndyCar, so I think it's just experience and confidence. Yeah, getting more confidence every time, and hopefully we can keep on scoring good results on street courses.”
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