“Palou is destroying everyone”: Helio Castroneves sizes up his IndyCar rivals and aims to “stop” Chip Ganassi star driver’s momentum
Four-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves detailed his toughest rivals going into the 109th running of the Indy 500. As the Brazilian revealed his rivals, he aimed to stop Alex Palou from the Indy 500 victory, breaking the Chip Ganassi Racing star's momentum.
Palou has been on a roll since the start of the 2025 IndyCar championship, as he's won four of the first five races. The Spaniard started his season with back-to-back victories in St. Pete and Thermal. Palou failed to win in Long Beach, but minimized the damage by finishing P2.
The CGR driver arrived at the Indy 500 weekend as the winner of the Alabama GP and the Sonsio GP. Castroneves detailed the incredible run the Palou has had since the start of the season, and aimed to derail it since the Spaniard was known for not being as strong around ovals as permanent/street courses.
“CGR is another incredible team. They also won a lot of races. I feel that Scott Dixon is one of the guys that I competed with most of my career. He is probably one of the guys that has experience as a good team and speed as well. So he's going to be up there along with Palou,” said Helio Castroneves as he detailed his rivals.
Speaking about Alex Palou's recent form and the aim to stop him at the Indy 500, Castroneves added:
“Palou has been destroying everyone. It's amazing in any sport, when you have that momentum. It's incredible. I do feel the ovals however, it might stop this momentum. I'm going to try to stop his momentum, no question about it.”
Alex Palou will start the 2025 Indy 500 from the second row after he managed to qualify P6. Helio Castroneves, on the other hand, will start P22 in the #06 Meyer Shank Racing.
Helio Castroneves details how the hybrid IndyCars could lead to an “interesting” Indy 500
IndyCar introduced the hybrid system midway through last year but didn't run it at last year's Indy 500. The 2025 Indy 500 will be the first time the hybrid cars will run around the superspeedway. Many drivers complained about the extra weight that the hybrid brings, and the crash numbers saw a significant increase compared to last year.
However, Indy 500 veteran Helio Castroneves believed that the hybrid power unit would lead to an interesting race around the 2.5-mile oval.
“I believe this could be very, very interesting this race. There is a lot going on, and people don't realize when you are actually use the regen, it feels a little bit like a brake. You've got to be on top of this scenario, deploy and regen at the same time, at the right time, because if something goes ordinary, you're going to get passed by a lot of people,” said Helio Castroneves.
The hybrid has added nearly 100 lbs to the rear of the IndyCar, and hence, many drivers struggled with the rear sliding all out.