Álex Palou is a four-time IndyCar champion whose mild, innocent demeanor belies a ruthless competitive instinct that consistently dismantles rivals. Palou arrived in IndyCar in 2020 with Dale Coyne Racing and moved to Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021, finishing 16th in his debut season. Ganassi did not initially view him as a top choice and treated him as a low-cost experiment alongside Scott Dixon. Palou's approach confounds traditional driver archetypes; he appears passive outside the car while operating as an effective, relentless threat on the track.
There's an agreement that takes place when lions are preparing to fight. The feral connection between predators comes into play. It's the sizing up of an opponent's arsenal; length of the fangs, sharpness of the claws, the hulking muscles to drive those weapons into flesh. A killer recognizes its kind. And then there's IndyCar's new four-time champion Álex Palou. He confuses the daylights out of his rivals.
And then there's Palou, all smiles and innocence and childlike curiosities. When the green flag waves, the passive character outside the car doesn't reconcile with the tormenter-in-chief, the guy who seemingly delights in dismantling their sporting dreams. It's here where the 28-year-old Spaniard has become a maddening, unsolvable puzzle within IndyCar's driver ranks. They don't recognize themselves within him. There's no feral connection. No snarls, no scowls. It's unsettling. He presents like harmless prey, all while feasting on their ambitions. This isn't a roaring lion defeating cubs and runts.
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