Alex Palou might be one step away from becoming the best IndyCar driver of all time.
That sounds ridiculous given he's only on 85 career starts, but given the fact that he could - and, in fact, is favourite to - seal a fourth championship title this year before he even reaches 100 starts, the numbers are stacking up.
Drivers to win three or more titles in a row
Dario Franchitti - 2009-11
Sebastien Bourdais (Champ Car) - 2004-07
Ted Horn - 1946-48
Only Franchitti also won an Indy 500
Palou's started this season with four wins and a second from five races - he's on early-2005 Dan Wheldon levels, which is fun given the anniversary element - and he's taken those wins when there have been no cautions since the first lap of the season opener to offer chances of mixed strategy. And all while up against arguably the best, most advanced and most competitive IndyCar grid in terms of depth that we've ever seen.
"Best start I've had in my racing career so far, even better than go-karting days," Palou reckons.
One of my favourite stats from last weekend was that since 2021, Palou is the only driver to win by a double-digit margin on a road course, and he's done it four times! It's only been done on other tracks twice, so he has four of the six times since four years ago.
Biggest IndyCar winning margins since Palou joined Ganassi
Alex Palou, Laguna Seca, 2022 - 30.4s (road course)
Scott Dixon, Gateway, 2023 - 22.2s (oval)
Alex Palou, Indianapolis, 2023 - 16.8s (road course)
Alex Palou, Barber, 2025 - 16.0s (road course)
Christian Lundgaard, Toronto, 2023 - 11.8s (street circuit)
Alex Palou, Thermal Club, 2025 - 10.2s (road course)
The one step left to make that we mentioned is the Indy 500. Scott McLaughlin pointed out last year that he didn't feel complete as an IndyCar driver until he'd won on an oval. That's something that still escapes Palou.
But the 500 specifically is what you need to win if you want to be considered one of the greatest. Can Palou pull it off?
Palou at the 500
2020: Started - 7th / Finished - 28th
2021: Started - 6th / Finished - 2nd
2022: Started - 2nd / Finished - 9th
2023: Started - 1st / Finished - 4th
2024: Started - 14th / Finished - 5th
His rookie 500 performance for Dale Coyne in 2020 was one of the reasons Ganassi signed Palou for 2021. In 2021 he almost won and felt he could have if he had more experience. Instead he was beaten by four-time winner Helio Castroneves.
He took pole in 2023 and should have had a real chance if not for being smashed into the pitwall by Rinus VeeKay - but still finished top-five, which he did again last year.
Palou's not really one to talk about his own achievements or success if he can avoid it, but there's no getting away from the fact he's desperate to win the 500.
"I'm hungry, man, I'm hungry," he said on a soon-to-be-released episode of The Race IndyCar Podcast.
"I had an idea of what winning a championship would be like and it's been like 10x that. I had an idea of what winning two or three championships was and it's been much more than that.
"And I have an idea of what winning the 500 could be like and every person that has won it like Dario [Franchitti], Marcus [Ericsson], Scott [Dixon] and everybody that's around me that has won it - they say that I cannot really have an idea of what it feels like.
"So I can imagine that it's the best thing in life for a driver in motorsport. And I don't know what it would feel like for me. Like honestly, I spent a lot of time thinking about it and that's all I want this month.
"That's all I'm thinking of. I'll do everything I can to try and get it."
A nuance to this situation is that Palou does feel like he's still got time to learn and grow to achieve the 500. When asked in the pre-season if he'd rather win a third title in a row or the 500, he said he'd choose the former because that's so rare - and that he'd then go for the 500 in 2026.
But he issued the caveat that if he was retiring, he'd choose the 500 over the third title. I think that shows you how important it would be to Palou's legacy to claim victory in the 500 at some point in his career.
It doesn't have to be this year, and just because he has been godlike in his performances elsewhere, it doesn't mean he's somehow entitled to win it. Some excellent IndyCar drivers (Michael Andretti, Bourdais) have failed to ever crack the 500.
But for a detail-oriented driver like Palou, it's hard to imagine the intersection of the car being good enough and him having learned so much that he has all the tools and experience necessary won't come at some point.
Speak to anyone who has worked with Palou and they'll mention how incredible his brain is for computing and processing data. He has so much bandwidth in the car because so much of what he's doing has become unconscious to him. Off the track, he knows how much data to get into without over-complicating things.
This leads us to another point - that we shouldn't assume Palou has reached his peak.
How he's started this season is proof of that. Last year, after the introduction of the hybrid unit from Mid-Ohio in July, Palou didn't win another race until this year's opener.
Was that coincidence, or evidence of another barrier Palou has used his skills to overcome?
"I noticed the same as you, we got the last win without the hybrid, at Laguna, then we went to Mid-Ohio, we got pole there with the hybrid, but then we've never won a race since then until St Pete this year," Palou adds.
"So for sure, we lost a little bit whenever we put the hybrid on. Like we lost that maybe feeling or maybe a bit of speed or just maybe overall balance. But we got it back this season.
"So yeah, I'm glad that we're feeling as good as we felt before the hybrid was introduced and we are able to be fighting every single weekend."
He's only going to get better from here, and it's left his rivals scrambling for silver linings.
"It is all swings and roundabouts, we'll be strong at places he won't, just got to capitalise," said McLaughlin after Barber last weekend.
Palou's response? "I feel in terms of tools, resources, the team and my crew and everybody around me, I don't go to any weekend thinking 'oh man, we're going to struggle there'.
"No. If we struggle it's because I'm either not extracting 100% or somebody else is 120% that weekend and they just deserve that win."
I'm sure this a result of speaking in his second language - which he does extremely well - but it sounds like Palou is saying someone is going to have to be at 120% to beat him, and that's just about how everyone in IndyCar feels right now.
So, back to an earlier question, can he add the 500 this year? Last year was one of Ganassi's worst for a while - with a double top five! Disgraceful, I'm sure you'll agree! - just in terms of lacking the pace in the car they had in previous years to fight for victory. What has the test told Palou about how they have reacted to that?
"I don't want to get too excited," he says. "I had a great test. The car felt great. I thought I had speed, but it's just a test.
"You never know if the person in front of you or behind you is hiding something or the other manufacturer is hiding something.
"I'm not overly excited because I know when it comes like race time or qual time, suddenly there's people that go very, very fast and you're like, oh man, I shouldn't have been so excited for the past month!
"So I'm happy, but I'm just like, low-key."
Happy but low-key is a great description for Palou generally. One thing that isn't low-key is winning the Indianapolis 500, and that's obviously his main goal in May.
Then we can have a real discussion about where Palou ranks in the history books, especially if he does go on to bag that third successive title.
Which, if he does, should also then prompt us to look back and ask the question of why Franchitti isn't more highly thought of - but that's a feature for another day!
