Qualifying reaction: Palou’s Indy GP dominance, O’Ward’s big turnaround & aggro again
- Archie O’Reilly
- 8 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Álex Palou has hailed his “really, really fast” No.10 car after a dominant Grand Prix of Indianapolis qualifying, while Pato O’Ward overcame a “miserable” Friday in an impressive turnaround. The pair also butted heads again over the latest push-to-pass controversy.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s championship-leading Palou took a third successive pole position on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course on Saturday afternoon, by 0.5475 seconds - on only a 2.439-mile track - ahead of his Arrow McLaren counterpart.
“You would be surprised how much we change [year-to-year],” Palou said. “You would be very surprised. It doesn't have anything to do with the car we had two years ago. I [don’t] want to say too much…”
This is how the front row reacted after Saturday’s delayed qualifying running…
Palou flies with “rocketship” car
Palou had always been a consistent qualifier, but heading into the 2025 season, for all he had achieved, he only had achieved six pole positions. But in 2025, he doubled that tally, with two more now already added in the first six rounds of 2026.
This latest Grand Prix of Indianapolis pole was emphatic, though Palou was keen to make clear that only O’Ward, who had a suboptimal final lap, was also on new alternate tyres.
“It’s not real. I was not half-a-second ahead,” Palou said. “It's true that we were really, really fast. We could have tried to do it on a used set of alternates but then you put yourself in danger of what if five other cars [are] going new [tyres] and then suddenly with a really fast car you start P6? We didn't want to put ourselves in that scenario.
“Now when you see half-a-second, you're like: ‘Man, we should have kept those tyres for the race.’ But taking decisions is super easy afterwards. It's a constant debate. Everybody was on board. I wanted to go for pole. Pole raises everybody's morale [and] confidence and gives you obviously a great view for Turn 1 at the start.”
Still, regardless of what tyres were used in the pole shootout, Palou has led every session in which he has participated this weekend. It has, thus far, been emphatic.
“It’s really hard to do what we've been doing,” he said. “It doesn't come easy and we know that it could end tomorrow or today. Everybody at CGR and the No.10 car is executing really, really good. The car that I had today was a rocketship. I think we can win, obviously.
“The issue or the good thing or bad thing - same for everyone - is that we don't have warmup so we don't really know are the tyre going to last [or] is the car going to be okay on long stints or not? The good thing is everybody is on the same page.”
O’Ward defies “annoying” Friday
O’Ward was suitably demoralised after practice on Friday, suggesting that, on pace, he would probably be good enough for a maximum of 18th in practice.
He hoped for rain in qualifying, which came but delayed the session until the following morning, though turned things around impressively overnight for a second successive front-row start in Saturday’s dry conditions.
“We turned it around,” O’Ward said. “[Friday] was a really, really tough day for the No.5. I want to thank my teammates for what they worked through yesterday; I had to bounce to what they found. I was pretty pleased to see that it correlated and it translated to a better race car. I want to thank my team.
“It's miserable out there where you just can't attack, you can't extract the lap time out of the car. And it does really change the game whenever you can. That's what qualifying today was for me. [Friday] was just so annoying but sometimes it can be that way. You just need to find what's going on to get you on the other side.”
O’Ward is fourth in the standings but yet to record a podium in 2026. He is somewhat concerned of being a “sitting duck” from second heading into Turn 1 in the race but expects chaos as he tries to stop the Palou juggernaut after such a dominant qualifying display.
“My Q3 lap was probably the worst lap that I had in qualifying. I had a little bit of a brain fart going into [Turn] 1 and then that down-spiraled from there,” he said of the margin to Palou in qualifying. “The guy is very good here. He's got the record to just run away with it if he's got that clean air. He's going to be super, super, super fast as he always is.
“How do we beat him? I don't know. I feel like everyone is on that same train, the last 24 months. For us, we’ve got to extract the most out of what we've got.”
Drivers keen to run wet qualifying
If it had been their choice, both Palou and O’Ward would have liked to have run in the rain on Friday afternoon. Unfortunately, alongside substantial standing water, the grounding of the medical helicopter put a halt to those hopes.
“When do we ever get perfect rain to run in?” O’Ward posited. “That's what nature gave us. I was kind of sad that we weren't able to go out there because it throws a curveball to everybody. Everybody just has to adapt quickly. It is really fun.”
Palou was equally disappointed, though knowing his car was exceptional in the dry.
“I understand that if the helicopter couldn't leave, it is what it is,” he said. “If you let the track sit for an hour-and-a-half, there's big puddles. But if we would have been on-time, it would have been perfect. We never get perfect conditions in the rain, It would have been a great, great show. But it's okay. You cannot be too mad about it.”
Front row renew push-to-pass feud
In a media conference together for the second time this race weekend, Palou and O’Ward again clashed over their different views on the use of push-to-pass by 12 drivers at an unavailable point on a restart last time out in Long Beach.
Palou was among those who used the system. Nobody was penalised given the blame for the boost being available was on IndyCar due to a software fault - but O’Ward remained steadfast in his opinion that the drivers should still not have used the push-to-pass.
“I can't wait for the scenario where it's like: ‘Oh, someone had push-to-pass in the start,’” said O’Ward, referring to the fact that push-to-pass is now only unavailable under green flag conditions on race starts. Drivers would now be penalised if a glitch somehow made it available on the start, with responsibility removed from IndyCar and placed onto the drivers.
“The problem was it wasn't a rule. I think it was more a gentlemen's agreement. Come on, you knew.”
Palou was exasperated by that comment, uttering a shocked: “What? What did I know? That it was not enabled? Not that you cannot use it: ‘Oh, it’s not enabled. Okay, that’s it. End of the story. Gentleman’s agreement.’ I knew that it was not enabled - end of the story. If it’s enabled because someone else does a mistake…”
Palou reaffirmed that no rule existed denying push-to-pass from being used when an IndyCar-induced issue allowed, though O’Ward was not so certain, citing criticism aimed at Josef Newgarden for using push-to-pass illegally in St. Petersburg in 2024.
“No, you went into the grey area and got away with it. The problem was the rule didn’t say anything. At the end of the day, the same action that Josef got crucified for…”
Palou objected to the idea that he had taken advantage of a lack of clarity in the rules.
“There’s no grey area,” he said. “It was not Josef’s fault; it was the team’s fault. If the team’s cheating, it’s not because of the driver. I always press it [push-to-pass, even when not available]. That’s how I found [it was available].”
Before telling the media they were “welcome for the entertainment” from the latest back and forth, O’Ward responded with a hint of shock: “What? Why? In case it works? Maybe that’s why I’m not winning races. Honestly, the rule was not specific. That was the problem.”
Palou is now keen to put the saga behind him.
“I was being crucified on Twitter when everybody is saying that he's right, it's a gentlemen's agreement or something,” he concluded. “There was no rule so end of the story.”
