Álex Palou

About

Spanish racing driver who drives for Chip Ganassi Racing in the IndyCar Series, where he won the 2021 series championship. He is the first Spanish racing driver to win a national championship in American open-wheel racing history and also the first Spaniard to win in the GP3 Series. He has 40,000 followers on Twitter and 90,000 on Instagram.

Before Fame

He started out racing karts in 2003, at six. He made his open-wheel racing debut at the Euroformula Open Championship with Campos Racing in 2014. He then spent two years in Japan in the Formula 3 and then in Japan's Super Formula.

Trivia

He celebrates his victories by eating fried chicken. For his victory ride after winning Indy, he chose a bright yellow "Chicken Limo" adorned with an oversized fake chicken head and tail. 

Family Life

He was born Álex Palou Montalbo in Sant Antoni de Vilamajor, Catalonia, Spain to teenage parents. His father's name is Ramon. Up until his Indy victory, he and his girlfriend Esther Valle, both coffee lovers, owned and operated Coffee & Greens in Girona, Spain.   

Associated With

His other Ganassi Racing teammates include Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson. In September 2022, McLaren announced that they had signed Palou to their Testing of Previous Cars program, that would see him test the MCL35M at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya alongside Pato O'Ward.