Alex Palou enjoys victory circle moment with wife and daughter after Barber triumph

Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou took his third chequered flag of the season at the fourth round of the NTT IndyCar championship at Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Alabama. Following his dominant win, he celebrated the victory circle moments with his wife and daughter.

The Spaniard, who has won the 2023 and 2024 titles, is putting forward a dominant fight to defend his crown. He won the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama with a 16-second margin, even describing the all-green race as a lonely stint. With this win, he remained atop the drivers' standings with 196 points.

Notably, this has been the largest margin of victory since 2023. Palou, who was so far defending from the 2025 Long Beach GP winner and Andretti driver Kyle Kirkwood, also witnessed a change in the order as Arrow McLaren's Christian Lundgaard has now climbed up to second. This happened after Lundgaard's second-place finish in the race, and he now sits 60 points behind Palou.

IndyCar's official broadcaster, FOX, captured Alex Palou's celebratory moments at the victory circle with his partner, Esther Valle, and daughter, Lucia. In the video, the CGR driver went to his wife and kissed before taking his daughter in his arms. He removed Lucia's cap to supposedly give her a better look at the surroundings and then pointed her towards the camera, asking her daughter to greet fans with "Hola".

Watch the video below:

The 27-driver grid of the 2025 NTT IndyCar series championship will next battle it out at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course for the Sonsio GP, scheduled for Saturday, May 10.

Alex Palou explains the effect of the hybrid package's extra weight on his IndyCar’s behaviour

INDYCAR Open Testing - Indianapolis - Source: Getty

Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing highlighted the challenges presented by the new hybrid-era IndyCar machines. Following Formula 1’s transition to hybrid power trains over a decade ago, IndyCar introduced its own hybrid technology in July 2024 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Palou, who led the final session of Indy 500 open testing, noted that the additional weight from the hybrid components makes the cars harder to control. He emphasized that this increased difficulty raises the chances of driver errors, especially since this is the first time the hybrid setup was tested at a high-speed circuit like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"Even if you have a really good car, it's very easy to make a mistake, which then creates a gap for the guy behind to get a chance," Palou said (via allaboutindyracing.com).

Alex Palou is leading the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series Championship with 196 points, 60 points clear of second-placed Christian Lundgaard.