With An Historic Start To The Season, Is Alex Palou The Best Driver On The Planet Right Now?

Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou dropped another flawless performance in the Sonsio Grand Prix — a race that featured the IndyCar Series' first caution since lap one at the season-opening race in St. Petersburg — which means he has won four of the first five races of the season.

And the one he lost? That was the Long Beach Grand Prix in which he finished second to Andretti Global's Kyle Kirkwood.

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This now gives Palou the best start to an IndyCar season since AJ Foyt got off to a hot start in 1964.

Palou now has a 97-point lead going into the Indianapolis 500, and while he has never won an oval, he has still run well at Indy and will be one of the contenders on Memorial Day Weekend.

So, with this white-hot start, the championship under control, and three-titles to his name already at just 28 years old, is Palou the best racing driver on the planet right now, regardless of series?

I think he is.

There are lots of great drivers out there in everything from stock cars to sports cars to other open-wheel series. There are even some, like McLaren F1 driver Oscar Piastri, who is on a hot streak right now. But no one is dominating the way Palou is week in and week out, from qualifying, through the race to the checkered flag.

And he's doing this in a series where all the drivers use the same chassis and tires, with the engines being the one thing that could be different from team to team, and there are only two options.

Alex Palou's historic start to the 2025 IndyCar season is one of several reasons that he's the best driver on the planet right now. (© Doug McSchooler/for IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images and Getty Images)

This means we're getting a better picture of each driver's ability than in a series like F1 or sports cars, in which the car is different.

And what is Palou's secret? In my opinion, it's his consistency. He flat-out does not make mistakes, and in a season where yellow flags are at a premium, teams and drivers can't rely on a lucky bounce in the form of a well-timed caution to make a strategic gamble pay off.

Nope. With so many green flags running, it's been largely up to the drivers to get the job done, and who's doing that better than anyone? 

Palou.

The Indianapolis 500 is going to be Palou's toughest challenge of the year for a few reasons. Racing on ovals is a different animal and there are certain teams and drivers who excel on them. Furthermore, that lack of yellow flags? I promise you that trend will not continue during the Indy 500, which could cause a lucky bounce for another team, or even put Palou and the No. 10 team — who it also must be said have be virtually flawless on pitlane as well — on the back foot.

Regardless of what happens going forward, Palou's start is historic, and before he has even hit his 30th birthday, he's already one of the best to ever do it.