Alex Palou admits Chip Ganassi Racing is always "missing something" at St. Petersburg race

Alex Palou has 12 victories in the IndyCar series but has never been able to emerge victorious at the traditional season opener at St. Petersburg. Reflecting on Chip Ganassi Racing's fortune around the track, the Spaniard admitted that the Indianapolis-based team seems to always be missing something on the streets of St. Petersburg.

Since the inclusion of the St. Petersburg Grand Prix on the IndyCar calendar, Chip Ganassi Racing has won the race only two times. Dario Franchitti and Marcus Ericsson are the only winners that have taken the established racing outfit on the top step of the podium.

While Palou came within a second of the victory at the 2022 edition of the race, his dream to win the prestigious race has remained unfulfilled. Ahead of his 2025 try around the 1.8-mile track, the 27-year-old revealed how Chip Ganassi Racing has been unable to get on top of the street circuit and wrote on his blog at SoyMotor:

"St Petersburg is a good example, because we have never done well there. We were second in 2022, but we have always been missing something. And the same thing happens with ovals: in Indianapolis we always go like a rocket, but then we are not 100% on other tracks. There are two things that make the difference: the build of the car itself and the set-up, which is the most important thing of all."

"It is not that one year you go to St Petersburg and you are very slow and the next year you magically get pole, but you start from scratch and you run into the same problems. That is something we have worked on as a team and I hope that the team can give me what I need to go faster on this track. The good thing is that we start on a track that is not usually good for us, so anything higher than we can finish will be good news."

The triple champion begins the 2025 IndyCar season with high hopes of completing a three-peat at the championship. He will start the race from eighth place.

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Alex Palou has been one of the pace-setters during the St. Petersburg Grand Prix weekend

Alex Palou at the INDYCAR Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg - Day 2 - Source: Getty

Though Alex Palou lamented his team's pace around the streets of St. Petersburg, he has been on a roll during the practice sessions. During the first practice session on Friday, he finished second, with less than two-tenths separating him from the top spot on the timing sheets.

While his second practice session produced a worse result, he still managed to get a top-three lap time on the board and with a similar margin to the pace-setter, Marcus Ericsson, this time. He followed that up by finishing eighth in qualifying.

Alex Palou completed 38 laps around the 1.8-mile track during the practice sessions and will be hoping to leave a big mark on the field during the race. Moreover, a win at the 100-lapper would help him begin his championship defence on the front foot.