"It’s not a place to overtake": Alex Palou breaks down his winning formula for conquering the IMS road course

Chip Ganassi Racing star Alex Palou, featured on the IndyCar YouTube channel in a video uploaded on May 7, 2025. The Spaniard broke down his winning formula at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course as he took the viewers for a lap around the circuit in the simulator and detailed the intricacies of the lap.

Alex Palou came into the Sonsio Grand Prix as the championship leader and won 3 wins in the first four races of the 2025 IndyCar season. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver has an excellent track record around the IMS road course, winning the last two Sonsio Grand Prix.

Alex Palou expressed his affection for the circuit in IndyCar's YouTube video. The 3 time IndyCar champion explained how the circuit is a rollercoaster where different strategies play out to create an interesting race.

“You have some moments where you're saving fuel and you're getting attacked, and there's not much you can do when you're on track, and there's other phrases of the race where you can just go crazy and try and get good lap times and start passing cars,” said Alex Palou.

The Spaniard then took a guided lap around the circuit in the simulator and detailed the intricacies and overtaking spots around the track. After explaining the first half of the circuit, as Palou got into the Turn 8,9, and 10 sequence, he suggested that it's hard to corner while following other cars around, and to overtake.

“Here's that Chicane that I was talking about where you need to take full curbs. You need to cut the track as much as possible. It's not a place to overtake. Unless, obviously, there's an issue with another car. And then we get here, I would say it's the last overtaking spot together with. This turn twelve,” said Palou

The CGR driver then went on to complete his lap around the IMS Road Course as he successfully shared his winning formula with the fans through the guided lap.

Alex Palou’s dominant start to the 2025 IndyCar season

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver qualified P8 for the season opener at St. Pete, made his way up the grid, and won the race by a couple of seconds after fighting with Josef Newgarden to maintain the lead.

The Thermal Club race was another dominant display where Alex Palou dispatched the Arrow McLaren duo of Christian Lundgaard and Pato O'Ward, starting ahead of him, and won the race by 10-plus seconds.

AUTO: MAR 02 INDYCAR Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg - Source: Getty

The race at Long Beach was a stalemate, as Kirkwood and Palou ran 1-2 for the longest period in the race, and finished in the same positions. The Andretti Global driver was able to defend from Palou's attacks, as the Spaniard finished on the podium.

Alex Palou started on pole position for the Barber race and finished P1 with a 16-second gap to Lundgaard in P2. The CGR driver led 81/90 laps and extended his championship lead. Palou currently sits on 196 points in the championship, with Lundgaard 60 points away in P2.