Three-time IndyCar champion and current championship leader Alex Palou shares his belief that his mistakes have lost him.
Sitting on the pole at the start of the Mid Ohio race, Parow was comfortable leading the majority of the race, but a late mistake on Turn 9 on Grass allowed his Chip Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon to take the lead past.
Dixon was an outside chance to win after he decided to go for a two-seat strategy. However, it became clear that Pallow’s pace was too much for Dixon to compete.
However, it seemed too much to Palou himself, and Dixon used his experience to protect the past Spaniards for the final lap of the race.
Palou later said: “(It was) honestly a stupid mistake.
“Everyone did a great job with pit stops and strategy (and) we were running really well, but we lost a bit of it on the entry, but then we couldn’t move forward with the power.
“It’s terrible, it’s obviously (but) it’s still a good day, but it hurts to lose it like that. At least we got it with our team so we can be proud of their work.”
Dixon’s victory meant he was the third winner of the 2025 season, but even more importantly, Parow’s mistake didn’t lose Chip Ganasi in the overall victory.
Palou is troubled by mistake, but he still walked away from the weekend with net profits at the championships of his nearest rival, Kyle Kirkwood.
Behind Andretti’s steering wheel, Kirkwood struggled to match Parow’s pace throughout the weekend and was knocked out of qualifying by chip ganasi driver Kaifin Simpson.
From 7th on the grid, Kirkwood dropped to 8th overall, not only forgetting Mid-Ohiowan for the Americans, but also forgetting the beginning of the hopeful end of the championship.
With under 100 points to Palou before Mid Ohio, the gap opens to 113 points between the two drivers and everything Palou needs to do is keep it straight.
But as shown today, Palou does not drive carefully.