Fernando Alonso reacts to compatriot Alex Palou clinching historic 4th IndyCar title

Two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso reacted to his Spanish compatriot Alex Palou winning his third consecutive and fourth overall IndyCar title on Sunday (Aug 10). The Chip Ganassi Racing driver equaled the legends of the sport like Mario Andretti with his fourth title win.

Palou entered the Grand Prix of Portland already miles ahead of title rival Pato O'Ward. He had a 121-point lead over the Arrow McLaren driver. All the Spaniard had to do was finish ahead of O'Ward, which wasn't an uphill task considering his dominance this season.

Pato O'Ward started the race in pole position, and Alex Palou further back in P5. During an early caution after a lap 15 crash, the Arrow McLaren driver pitted from the lead, while his Chip Ganassi Racing rival stayed out. Unfortunately for O'Ward, he had a mechanical issue with his car on the lap 21 restart, and his race was nearly over.

Palou effectively won his fourth IndyCar title on that lap, but added the cherry on top with a podium finish. Fernando Alonso reacted to the big news on Instagram. The Aston Martin F1 driver reshared the IndyCar champion's celebratory post on his story and wrote:

"Enormous 👏👏👏!!! Congratulations champ 👏👏"

A snapshot of Fernando Alonso's Instagram story (@fernandoalo_oficial)

Fernando Alonso had labeled Palou as a "phenomenon" back in 2021, when the young Spaniard was en route to his first IndyCar title. He had tried his hand at F1 a couple of years ago with McLaren, but it ended in an ugly lawsuit when he stayed with Chip Ganassi Racing despite signing a contract with the Woking outfit.

Palou winning the championship in Portland wasn't the only highlight. Team Penske's Will Power won the Grand Prix of Portland to bring home his 45th career win and the team's first in 2025.

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What Fernando Alonso said after Alex Palou's breakthrough Indy 500 win

Alex Palou wins the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 - Source: Getty

Alex Palou's entire 2025 season has been a highlight. But the biggest highlight of highlights was his breakthrough Indy 500 victory at the 109th running of the race in May, which left Fernando Alonso floored.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver qualified in sixth place for the 200-lap race. It was a chaotic race, with six caution periods just past the midway point. Palou made his final pit stop on lap 168. He made the game-changing overtake on leader Marcus Ericsson with 15 laps to go and held P1 until the very end to win his first oval race in IndyCar, and that too, on the biggest one of them all, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Alonso, who attempted the Indy 500 thrice during his racing career, in 2017, 2019 and 2020, had nothing but praise for Alex Palou. When the Aston Martin driver was asked about his compatriot's potential chances in F1, he replied (via Autoweek):

"I mean great for Spain. First of all, great for him to have the Indy 500 now after winning the series. He's doing great there. I know that most of the drivers would dream about Formula 1 and having a career here, but he had the opportunity in IndyCar, and he maximized every single day there. He's a legend in the IndyCar, and he will be a legend always in IndyCar, so I think he's not missing Formula 1.

"I'm very happy for him because he's a very, very talented driver and we are just following him from here with a lot of respect."

Fernando Alonso had his best result of the 2025 F1 season at the Hungarian GP. He started and finished the race in P5 after nearly being in contention for pole position in qualifying.