MONTEREY, Calif. – Chip Ganassi smiled as Alex Palou smiled in the winners circle at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. just a few feet behind him.
Palou won the first race of 2022 at the season finale of the Monterey Grand Prix, and Ganassi was in the celebrations as team owner of the No. 10 Dallara Honda.
But there haven’t been many happy moments between Palou and Ganassi this season. Palou has revealed he has signed with McLaren for his racing after Ganassi announced a contract extension for his series defending champion. Frosty.
All seemed to be forgotten after a fantastic Sunday drive in which Palou led 67 of 95 laps and won by a staggering 30.3812 seconds over Joseph Newgarden.
Has the fence between drivers and team owners who seemed destined to part forever after this season been mended?
“Yeah, things are going well, we’ll see what we find, but yes,” Palou said after being asked if this was his last race at No. 10, to NBC Sports’ Kevin Lee. told to Enjoy the moment and see what happens.”
There were plenty of other hints on Sunday that the duo might surprisingly get back to normal.
At the press conference after winning his fourth NTT IndyCar Series win, Palou revealed that he spoke with Ganassi on Sunday morning at Laguna Seca and before the race in Portland last Sunday.
“Yes, we talk,” said Palou. “yes … “
You mean the 2023 season?
“Sure,” he said with a smile.
So any chance of driving again next year for Chip Ganassi Racing, which is currently embroiled in an arbitration with Palou after suing the driver?
“Yeah, I’ll know when I know,” said Palou. “I wish I could say, ‘Hey, I’m doing this,’ but I don’t have an answer yet.
“Maybe tomorrow.”
Despite their current legal entanglements, smiles were all over the winning drivers and team owners.@indycar Season finale at Laguna Seca.
Maybe this is not the end@Alex PalouWhen@ganashi chip? pic.twitter.com/GVfEkSRGvt
— Nate Ryan (@nateryan) September 11, 2022
It’s a definite change of tone for the Spaniard, who on July 29 (three days after Ganassi filed his lawsuit) was adamant about joining McLaren Racing in some capacity next season.
In an interview with a small group of reporters on Sunday morning, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown declined to confirm Palou would join his organization yet.
With two IndyCar seats occupied for next season, Brawn said McLaren will either have Palou driving a third car by the end of the month, or Felix has received offers from other teams. Rosenqvist said he would have to decide whether to drive.
“It’s still a work in progress,” Brown said. “What I want to say is that I am very happy with Felix. He has done a great job this year. He has been strong all year. “I think he will be taken over by another (IndyCar) team, so a decision needs to be made.”
When asked how likely it is that the Palou situation will be resolved within the next three weeks, Brown said: I think the ball is in Chip’s court. “
Ganassi hasn’t spoken publicly about the situation since July 12, but had he commented on Palou’s performance on Sunday, the reviews would have been overwhelmingly positive.
After 11 startsth With a six-place grid penalty for an engine change, Palou made the most of the new horsepower and magic set-up tweaks he found in Sunday morning’s warm-up.
“Today and here in Laguna it’s been very hard driving all weekend,” he said. “The grip level off the tarmac is very low and we are fighting all the time, so even if you are leading that much, you never feel like you have a good car. was the biggest (winning) margin I ever got.It felt really good.The strategy and all the pitstops were also really good.Yeah it felt great.The last car as good as today I hope not
Reporters noted that Palou finished more than 35 seconds ahead of the top-placed Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet (with Rosenqvist fourth).
“We’ll see how it goes, but I wish I had a 35-second lead every race,” Palou said with a smile. “Everything went well today.”
In eight races since the contract dispute, the victory at Laguna Seca was Palou’s second podium (he was also congratulated by Ganassi after his third at Nashville last month). Despite all the outside distractions, he was in championship contention all the way to Portland and still finished fourth in the points standings — that wasn’t much consolation.
“I wish I had the pressure in my head to fight for the championship and the points,” he said. “I like it. I was sad to come this weekend. When I said I would have a chance if I went to Portland, I really thought I had a chance, but it didn’t happen. I was really sad.” I wish I couldn’t sleep last night thinking about the points, but this year it didn’t, so I’ll try again next year.
“I think we didn’t really get the most out of the year that we had. I am happy to be here and hope that next year will start the same way.”
It could be anywhere.
“Like everyone, they’re waiting to see what happens,” Palou said when asked about his state of mind after Sunday’s victory. No. I think everything is going in the right direction, I don’t know if it will take a day, a week, or a month, but I hope everything will be resolved soon.
“I can’t say for sure, but everything is going in the right direction.”
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