Newly-minted Indy 500 winner Alex Palou clearly had a fast car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday. But that alone isn’t what got him to victory lane.
“It was a little bit of everything,” he said. “My car was very capable. But I didn’t really have the best balance, especially towards the end of the tire life. I would say from lap 20 onwards, I was struggling very much to follow very closely. So that’s why I tried to overtake Marcus as quick as they told me that the fuel was more or less okay to go to the end.
“There was a lot of fast cars out there. Mine was one of them, but I didn’t feel like we had tons of speed. I think I was able to get advantage of the traffic cars, as well, to help me tow up and not consume too much fuel, and thanks to Helio, I was able to read the traffic good. [ED: Helio Castroneves picked up his fourth Indy win at Palou’s expense in 2021, in part by picking up tows from backmarkers to conserve fuel].
“Like, when I overtook [David] Malukas, it was because I saw that there were people leaving the pits when I was coming to Turn 1 on the TV, and then with Marcus Ericsson, it was the same. I knew that was going to be probably my only chance.”
Palou’s winning pass on Ericsson came early by modern Indy 500 standards. In an era where constant lead changes over the final three or four laps are the norm, Palou made his move on lap 187 of 200.
Ericsson certainly wasn’t expecting a pass to come so early – he admitted as much later, and even if he hadn’t, the gap he left on the inside of Turn 1 told the story. At the time, the Andretti driver had more fuel and fresher tires than Palou after having gone off-strategy, and Palou was expected to play things conservative at that point to ensure he’d have the car he needed for a dogfight at the end.
