MONTEREY, Calif. – Alex Palou says he has little memory of what was said, but he remembers the sentiment well.
After winning the 2022 season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Palou and Chip Ganassi had a talk that was encouraging and positive for a driver and team owner who had been on speaking terms for only a month. Though both are reticent to reveal the details of what was discussed, they left with the feeling that a long-term future together remained possible.
“I remember how that conversation went, and especially the conversation before the race as well,” Palou told NBC Sports. “I never thought there was not a chance (to stay at Chip Ganassi Racing), to put it that way.
“I never thought there was no chance. The door never fully closed.”
Palou eventually closed the door on his move to Arrow McLaren, which once had seemed a foregone conclusion after the contract dispute that erupted July 12, 2022, on social media. Palou was testing F1 cars for McLaren Racing as recently as June, but by early August, he had re-committed to Ganassi beyond the 2023 season – despite reportedly signing a contract with McLaren to join its IndyCar team next year.
The team since has filed a lawsuit in U.K. commercial court, which Palou alluded to being among the reasons he has yet to talk to McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown since their deal imploded. “I don’t have any issues with him, but I don’t think there’s any benefit when there’s still everything to be cleared up,” Palou said. “What do I say? I don’t have anything that’s going to benefit him or me to say.”
Some common ground did emerge when told that Brown said he was “surprised” by how Palou had handled the situation.
“I agree it’s sad,” Palou said. “I’ve always tried to be a nice person, and I always thought I was doing the right things. That’s how my family taught me how to do stuff, and then suddenly, I look like I do everything wrong. That I don’t listen. And that I just do whatever I feel on that day.
“I don’t think any of those are right. I just think I’m a normal person. And I would have preferred to have like no drama at all. And just be a normal guy that has good races, and that’s it. But it’s not been the case.”
He’s planning on that being the case in 2024 as he starts his second multiyear deal with Ganassi as a 26-year-old two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion focused on
“Hopefully from now on I can just have a clean everything,” he said. “I can start working like a normal driver, and I can start recovering my image of like a normal person again.”
For Palou, there was no delineated turning point in patching things up at Ganassi (“it’s just been a natural progression”), but there was a moment when the newfound solidarity with Ganassi crystallized.
After the news went public of Brown informing McLaren employees that Palou “has no intention of honoring his contract,” Ganassi (who rarely comments on driver contracts) responded with an unusually forceful statement defending the No. 10 Dallara-Honda driver while challenging McLaren’s claims.
“Chip actually told me before that he was going to do that to show the team that they were in my corner, and I was not alone,” Palou said. “I was not doing stuff on my own. It was the team right there with me and behind me. It was more of like a statement for everybody to be, ‘Hey, he’s part of our team.’
“I was a bit surprised, because I knew that was going to create more drama and like a tennis ball going from this side, and then you wait for it to go back to the other side. Boom, boom, boom. But I thought it was great for the team to understand what was going on. I know he was doing it for me and for the team.”
In an exclusive conversation with NBC Sports about two hours after finishing third in the Sept. 10 season finale at Laguna Seca, Palou discussed a busy offseason that includes becoming a father, his comfort with being more outspoken and his strong bonds with the No. 10 crew (this interview has been condensed and slightly edited for clarity):
Q: So with your wife, Esther, scheduled to give birth in Spain at the end of November, how are you balancing that with the testing schedule for a new hybrid engine next year?
Palou: “I’m doing quite a lot more (testing) now. We will go to Spain at the end of this month on the 26th. I’ll drop her there and travel a little bit back and forth. November is all good. That’s clear 100%. September is very busy, October is a little busy, and then November, it’s clear.”
Q: Are you excited despite the very hectic several weeks ahead?
Palou: “I’m super excited, honestly. I love kids. I think building a family is something I always wanted. I don’t think it’s ever a good time to do that when you’re an athlete. You’d prefer to stop and be done first, but I don’t want to be done. I want to have 20 more years. So it seemed right. We were able to plan it for the end of the season, and it’s going to be exciting. I’m sure it’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be a crazy offseason, and also when I go there, I also have my racing team that I started this year with my dad, so it’s going to be a lot of work.”
Q: Do you have ambitions eventually to be a major team owner?
Palou: “No. For juniors, yeah. I would like one day to have a go-kart team with some kids and try to get them to race F4 and try to get them to single seaters and do their thing. But not in a major professional way. No, 100 percent no. That’s a big headache to have.”
Q: There were times this season, such as criticizing the new layout of the Detroit Grand Prix, where you seemed more comfortable expressing yourself. Are we seeing your more outspoken side?
Palou: “Yeah, I would say it’s not easy at the beginning, but now I feel really comfortable with the media, with a championship, with the team, and I can allow myself a little to be more like myself. So yeah.”
Q: Is that something that takes time, or do you get to flex more now that you’ve had such success?
Palou: “Oh, no, no. It’s more about time. I don’t feel now my opinion should be more valuable than somebody else. I’d say it’s more like being comfortable and knowing exactly how everything works.”
Q: Some would say your words should carry more weight, though?
Palou: “No, like I didn’t complain about the Detroit layout because I was a champion, and I know more than everybody else.”
Q: But do you think IndyCar will listen to you more as a two-time champion?
Palou: “I don’t think they should. They shouldn’t also listen the same way to rookies, for example. But I think there should be three different categories. The Dixons, Powers and Newgardens should be listened to more. I should be in the middle category, and then rookies obviously just need to listen, I think.”
Q: So Dixon first because he’s been there the longest and has six championships?
Palou: “One hundred percent. Whatever he says, we need to follow 100 percent. I’d say I’m in the middle, the average category, like with (Colton) Herta, Pato (O’Ward) and (Alexander) Rossi.”
Q: You seem to have such a camaraderie with the 10 crew. Was that chemistry and cohesion immediate?
Palou: “I don’t think it was like that the first day. I’d say it’s something you build, but it’s not been hard to build. It’s been super, super easy to build. It’s been fun. It’s so fun. I know everybody at the team. I know what’s going through their normal lives as well. They know everything about me as well, and I care for them. And I feel like they care a lot for me. So yeah, we have some connections with them for sure.”
Q: You’re a nice guy who seems easy to get along with, so is that the reason it works? Or is it something special about those guys?
Palou: “I would say it has to be both. You cannot be an asshole and build a great team around you, and at the same time, you cannot build a team if they are not willing to give everything for you. I’d say it’s been both.”
Being a two-time @IndyCar champion comes with some very nice jewelry for @AlexPalou. pic.twitter.com/OdkjWOTntt
— Nate Ryan (@nateryan) September 10, 2023
Q: At Portland, you lose Barry Wanser, the team plugs in Mike O’Gara as strategist, and you win and finish third to end the season. Was that an ultimate example of Ganassi’s organizational depth, which seems to have been a theme this year?
Palou: “I think people don’t realize how hard it is to lose the guy who is talking and making the strategy and directing all the team. To change that in the middle of the season with three days of notice because it’s an emergency, and then you win a race and get two podiums. Everybody at the team and in the team is a really, really good person. I knew I still could win with (O’Gara). It was obviously not easy because I’m not used to what he’s saying. I’m not used to what he’s thinking. Barry and I, I just say my tires are good, and he knows what I mean with that. I need to tell (O’Gara) more, I need to pay more attention, and we need to be more within the margins. Where with Barry, we just go at the limit. But yeah, I knew it still was going to be possible to win.”
Q: You said after the race today that you were sad to see the season end. Is that because it’s been magical in a sense, and next year will mark a new chapter apart from what you did this year?
Palou: “Yeah, exactly. I feel that way. I feel it’s been magical. You are so good that it’s like … today, it was amazing. I was doing whatever I wanted with the car, and then you get this really bad moment of you go from first to 15th (because of the timing of a yellow), you get punted in the back, you lose positions, and you still need to stop one more time, same as everybody. So your day is like done, and then suddenly you recover it, and you finish third. So yeah, I appreciate podiums a lot, I appreciate good races a lot, but today was really special. That’s why I don’t want this season to end. I know it’s hard, and when you have a big stop, everybody kind of regroups. So yeah, that’s why I’m a bit sad.”
Q: And next year, will things change, too, with the introduction of the hybrid engine that some say could be a game-changer?
Palou: “It will be. It will be. But I’m also excited for that part. I just think it can give us drivers and the teams an advantage. It can go the other way. Like Penske, Andretti or Juncos can get an advantage. But we think we can get it.”