Does Palou have a real chance to win the Indianapolis 500?

In three seasons and a quarter in the elite of IndyCar the Catalan Alex Palou It has become one of the undisputed references. In his second campaign, 2021, he wrote his name in the list of champions. But if there is a test that can change the status of a car driver, it is the Indianapolis 500, the test that the Americans themselves call ‘the greatest spectacle of racing’ (the greatest spectacle of car racing).

Winning this test is like winning Wimbledon for a tennis player or the British Open for a golfer. That celebration that appeared in 1928 with the milk bottle to celebrate victory is now one of the most iconic images in the world of sports, like raising the beautiful Borg Warner trophy to the sky. And there is no small check that comes with the victory, nothing less than almost three million euros pocketed Marcus Ericsson for his victory in the last edition.

375,000 permanent places have Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and they were able to seat up to 400,000 spectators in a facility covering 2.3 square kilometers, the largest sports facility in the world. Only five Spanish pilots participated in the test: Pland of biscay in 1923, Fermin Velez in 1996 and 1997, Oriol Serviawhich has participated the most times, no less than eleven, with the fourth in 2012 as the best result, Fernando Alonso in 2017 and 2021, and an unsuccessful attempt to qualify in 2020, and Alex Palou going for his fourth participation and his second in 2021 for the best performance.

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This wonderful tweet from the champion of IndyCar is the one that Alex Palou arranged at the head of his Twitter account and certainly if on Sunday he completes in the 107th edition of this test, what in 2021 is resisted he a hair with great joy your community manager will make the change.

Given this fictitious test in broad strokes, one must ask: Can Alex Palou win Sunday’s Indianapolis 500? Of course. At the age of 26, this is his fourth participation and he is growing and learning from the mistakes made, adjusting his driving aggressiveness accordingly. And in addition, his results also give him stripes within one of the most powerful structures in the current championship, Chip Ganassi Racing, with 10 IndyCar titles.

Within different situations of IndyCar lThe hardest thing for riders from other continents are the oval circuits and his first pole position in this type of layout is in style, in the Indy500, and the high lasts a week, which is between of ‘qualifications’ ‘ and of race.

200 laps is a lot and they don’t win at the start and pole position doesn’t guarantee it either. In the last 10 editions there has only been one winning poleman, Simon Pagenaud in 2019, although the front row usually makes at least one of the contenders for the final victory. Palou already knows what it’s like to lead a race on the oval and his goal is to control his race, without trying to lead and thinking about the last ten key laps.

The luck factor is very important, not being the protagonist of the ‘caution’ (yellow flag) or them not directly affecting you is the key. Contractions happen to everyone, but the fewer yours, the better.

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