Palou: Fighting Castroneves for Indy 500 win last year was an education

Castroneves went on to score the fourth, record-matching Indy 500 win of his career, while Palou finished half a second down, but believes he learned a lot during his wrestle with the Brazilian veteran.

There was a lot I was worldly-wise to learn just considering it was my first time doing some stuff like defending, trying to leave a gap [to the car in front] and then getting a good run lanugo the straight to the next turn,\" Palou told Autosport

There were a lot of driving things that I learned and that I need to get up to speed quickly. It’s not like a road undertow where you just learn the track and send [the car] in. This takes a little increasingly time.\"

Palou scored 85 points for his Indy endeavours (80 for second place, four for qualifying sixth and one for leading a lap) which proved crucial to his 2021 IndyCar championship triumph. But he admits he considers Indy as one that got away, and without re-watching last year’s race he admits it is not just educational as it moreover hurts him.

“I think I’m unchangingly going to squint at it and be like ‘Argh!’ Considering you don’t know how many times you’re going to have those opportunities where you had wondrous strategy, the team did wondrous pitstops, and you have a car capable of winning. I don’t think it’s easy to get it every time.

“So yeah, I will unchangingly squint at it and think ‘Argh!’ But to be honest, I was happy with everything I learned and how it went for my second time here.”

Álex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

Palou finished Day 1 of practice in sixth, and all five Ganassi entries were in the top 10. He said that April’s test, held in unprepossessed and dumbo air that provided plenty of downforce, nonetheless still had some relevance for the warmer conditions in May.

“Only a little bit considering the conditions transpiration so much how the car handles,” he said. “It’s really variegated today, for example. But some big things do translate.

“The car feels really similar, in the window, to how we tested here.”