Castroneves went on to attain the fourth, record-matching Indy 500 win of his profession, whereas Palou completed half a second down, however believes he realized quite a bit throughout his battle with the Brazilian veteran.
“There was quite a bit I used to be in a position to be taught simply because it was my first time doing a little stuff like defending, making an attempt to depart a niche [to the car in front] after which getting run down the straight to the following flip,” Palou advised Autosport
“There have been quite a lot of driving issues that I realized and that I have to stand up to hurry shortly. It’s not like a street course the place you simply be taught the observe and ship [the car] in. This takes a little bit extra time.”
Palou scored 85 factors for his Indy endeavours (80 for second place, 4 for qualifying sixth and one for main a lap) which proved essential to his 2021 IndyCar championship triumph. However he admits he considers Indy as one which bought away, and after re-watching final 12 months’s race he admits it’s not simply instructional because it additionally hurts him.
“I believe I’m all the time going to take a look at it and be like ‘Argh!’ Since you don’t know what number of occasions you’re going to have these alternatives the place you had superb technique, the workforce did superb pitstops, and you’ve got a automobile able to profitable. I don’t assume it’s simple to get it each time.
“So yeah, I’ll all the time take a look at it and assume ‘Argh!’ However to be sincere, I used to be proud of every thing I realized and the way it went for my second time right here.”
Álex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Photograph by: IndyCar Sequence
Palou completed Day 1 of observe in sixth, and all 5 Ganassi entries had been within the prime 10. He mentioned that April’s check, held in chilly and dense air that supplied loads of downforce, nonetheless nonetheless had some relevance for the hotter situations in Might.
“Solely a little bit bit as a result of the situations change a lot how the automobile handles,” he mentioned. “It’s actually totally different as we speak, for instance. However some massive issues do translate.
“The automobile feels actually related, within the window, to how we examined right here.”
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