Alex Palou’s 2023 NTT IndyCar Series championship was a season of both renewal and redemption.
Consider that one year ago, the 2021 IndyCar Series champion was embroiled in controversy as a driver with two contracts. On a single day in July 2022, Palou announced he had signed a contract with McLaren, and team owner Chip Ganassi issued a statement saying the driver remained under contract to his team.
The man with two contracts was involved in a deep dispute that wasn’t settled until last October when a mediator ruled his contract with Ganassi remained valid for this season.
Just a few weeks prior, Palou drove to his only victory of 2022 with a dominant performance at California’s WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Ganassi had a hunch he could somehow lure Palou back to his team as he left the track with Chip Ganassi Racing managing director Mike Hull.
“We won the race at Monterey one year ago,” Ganassi recalled prior to this year’s season finale at Laguna Seca. “I had a conversation with him, and I said to Mike Hull after that conversation, literally on the grounds here at Monterey last year before I left the race track, I said, ‘I don’t think that guy is necessarily gone.’”
Ganassi’s hunch proved correct. Palou dominated the 2023 season, took the points lead with his first win of the year at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on May 13 and never looked back. He clinched the championship with a Sept. 3 victory at Portland (Ore.) Int’l Raceway.
Palou became the first driver to secure the title before the final race of the season since Sebastien Bourdais won the Champ Car Series title in 2007.
Palou scored a series best five victories, including a three-race winning streak.
Palou concluded he was part of something very special at Chip Ganassi Racing and didn’t want to see that end.
On Aug. 11, Palou notified McLaren he would not join the team in 2024, creating a new legal controversy that will be heard during the offseason in commercial court in the United Kingdom.
The 26-year-old Palou claims he has found a home at Chip Ganassi Racing and isn’t ready to leave.
“I wouldn’t say it was one moment, that made me change my mind,” Palou told SPEED SPORT. “We won the championship together in 2021. In 2022, it was a tough season, but we had some really good results in the beginning and also the last race of the season.
“It’s been a steep curve of knowing it was the right place and knowing we wanted to get as many wins and as many championships as possible together.”
Palou entered the 2023 season knowing he had to repair his relationship at Chip Ganassi Racing, but he never doubted the effort of his No. 10 American Legion Honda crew.
“In 2022, I was fighting my own team,” Palou recalled. “What was hard was it was not going on, on the track.”
Ganassi told SPEED SPORT and other reporters before the race at Monterey that the relationship between himself and Palou was always “fine.”
“In terms of his teammates being quiet with him, when someone announces they are leaving a team and going to another team, you don’t want to help the other team, so your communication always stops,” Ganassi continued. “You are advancing the ball every day down the field, and you don’t want to give them any more than they already know. I don’t think any driver is surprised by that, it’s just unfortunate.
“Like most families, in the end, it all worked out.”
The driver from Spain was enticed at the possibility of competing in Formula 1 with McLaren. At the very least, he was prepared to join the Arrow McLaren IndyCar team in 2024.
But McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown sensed Palou was changing his mind and by mid-August, the relationship was over.
When Palou notified McLaren that he would not join the team in 2024, Brown sent a letter to both the McLaren F1 and Arrow McLaren IndyCar teams. Brown made that letter public.
Ganassi put out a statement in support of Palou and took a few shots at McLaren.