With two victories and six podiums to his credit in the 10 races held so far, Palou has had his fair share of squabbles, overtaking and demanding duels, in a category in which the differences are few, and the melee almost a necessity. Based on his experience in these races, the 24-year-old pilot has spoken out on such a controversial issue. In statements to Motorsport.com, has weighed that the special situation of both drivers lent itself to such a circumstance sooner or later.
“It is to be expected that things like this will happen. I don’t know what I would do if it happened to me. Of course, I wouldn’t make it easy for Hamilton, but if i was hamilton i’d have gone all out“Says the Chip Ganassi Racing driver. “In my opinion, they both did what I would have done instead. Obviously, now that we know the consequences, if you’re Verstappen you might say, ‘OK, I’ll let him pass.’ But one cannot just let another pass in a race »
Many of the criticisms of Lewis Hamilton, including those made by Christian Horner, were based on the difficulty of the maneuver that the seven-time champion was looking to perform on a corner as fast as Copse, where overtaking requires a high level of commitment. For Palou, this offensive had a single trigger: «When it is said that Hamilton went for that aggressive attempt, having very little space, of course it was because it was Verstappen. If it had been someone else, that would not have happened, because they are fighting for the championship.
“It’s always like this at IndyCar!”
When it comes to comparing with his usual work, Palou makes it clear that this kind of occurrence is the daily bread in the United States: “It’s always like this at IndyCar! At Mid-Ohio, we always have touches with other drivers. All overtaking is at the limit… The competition in IndyCar is like this. I think that’s also the beauty of the championship, and these cars allow you to have some contact. At Road America, with (Josef) Newgarden, we weren’t even thinking about our position in the championship. We had a super tough fight, with touches from wheel to wheel. He wasn’t being too hard on me, and I wasn’t being hard on him. ”
Facing rivals like Newgarden, Pato O’Ward or Scott Dixon, many hope that the Spanish rider have a bullseye on your back during the final six trials. For the moment, Palou rules out that the attitude of his competitors on the track is going to be very different: «I don’t think other riders are going to be more aggressive with me.. Perhaps those with whom we fight the most; say, Duck, Josef, Scott, Marcus (Ericsson) … Everyone here fights hard with each other (…) I wouldn’t change my thinking about Newgarden now. Maybe he’s more aggressive with me now, but I don’t know.