Carlos Sainz reacts to fellow Spaniard Alex Palou winning his 4th IndyCar title

Williams F1 driver Carlos Sainz took to Instagram to congratulate fellow Spaniard Alex Palou on claiming his fourth IndyCar title at the Grand Prix of Portland on Sunday, August 10. Sainz described Palou as a "machine", as he secured his title with two races still remaining amid a dominant 2025 campaign.

Alex Palou has finally been crowned the IndyCar champion for the fourth time at the Grand Prix of Portland on Sunday. A P3 finish at the Portland International Raceway was enough for the 28-year-old to secure what is his third consecutive American open-wheel title.

His compatriot, and fellow racing driver, Carlos Sainz, congratulated him on this achievement, via an Instagram story on Monday.

"WHAT A MACHINE!!! 4x @indycar 🥇

CONGRATULATIONS @alexpalou!! 👏🏻👏🏻" [Translated from Spanish]

Screen grab from Carlos Sainz's Instagram story [via Instagram/@carlossainz55]

Palou has won eight of the fifteen races so far in the 2025 IndyCar season, which includes his first ever triumph at the Indy 500. He has stood on three more podiums outside of this, marking one of the most dominant seasons ever in IndyCar history.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver has now joined the likes of Mario Andretti, Sebastien Bourdais and Dario Franchitti, who all have four IndyCar titles to their names as well.

Carlos Sainz, on the other hand, continues to adjust to his new reality in the world of F1. The 30-year-old was fired from Ferrari upon the expiry of his contract at the end of 2024, as the Italian team secured the services of Lewis Hamilton.

Sainz decided to join Williams in 2025, and has struggled to settle at his new home in Grove. But the driver has slowly started to get more comfortable at his new team, as his performances improve as the ongoing season passes by.

---

Carlos Sainz shares verdict on first half of the 2025 season with Williams

Carlos Sainz at the F1 Hungarian Grand Prix 2025 - Source: Getty

Speaking prior to the Hungarian GP, Carlos Sainz reflected on the first half of the 2025 season with his new team Williams. The Spaniard shared that there were many positives to take away from his first few months at the team but also conceded that the results on track have been "frustrating".

Speaking ahead of the last race before the F1 summer break, Sainz shared how his season has been a mixed bag.

"Plenty of positives in terms of what I've found in the team with the ambition and the way we're moving forward. All the work that is being done in the background for next year and even on this year's car, development and everything," said Sainz. [via Formula1.com]

But everything that has happened on track in terms of results has been incredibly frustrating and very disappointing because I expected, after a good adaptation period with the car, to start getting results pretty quickly given how competitive and how fast I've been this year," he added.

Sainz also added that he understands that an athletes go through ups and downs during their careers, but shared that felt it was difficult for him to gain momentum due to a constant lack of results even amid strong performances. The former McLaren man sits 16th in the drivers' standings, 38 points behind teammate Alex Albon.