{"id":1191,"date":"2026-08-24T13:58:47","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T16:58:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/?p=1191"},"modified":"2026-08-24T13:58:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T16:58:48","slug":"palou-laments-a-very-bad-day-and-explains-chain-of-events-leading-to-washington-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/indy\/palou-laments-a-very-bad-day-and-explains-chain-of-events-leading-to-washington-crash\/","title":{"rendered":"Palou laments &#8220;a very bad day&#8221; and explains chain of events leading to Washington crash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key takeaways<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Disastrous afternoon from pole:<\/strong> After securing an impressive pole position, <strong>\u00c1lex Palou endured a nightmare GP of Washington<\/strong>, finishing 20th after a series of pit-lane issues and a late crash.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Costly pit incident &amp; mechanical failure:<\/strong> A pit-lane penalty for striking Mick Schumacher&#8217;s tire was followed by a slow pit stop and a rear suspension toe-link failure, <strong>causing Palou to spin into the wall<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Championship lead reduced:<\/strong> Palou saw his point advantage over race winner Kyle Kirkwood <strong>cut from 133 to 91 points<\/strong> with two races remaining in the 2026 IndyCar season.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u00c1lex Palou<\/strong> endured one of the worst outings of his career at the <strong>IndyCar Grand Prix of Washington<\/strong> on Sunday (23). After securing an impressive pole position, the Spanish driver lost the lead in turn one and entered a downward spiral following his first pit stop, completing a sequence of mishaps that left him 20th at the 15th round of the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Palou struck a tire belonging to <strong>Mick Schumacher<\/strong> while exiting his pit box, earning a drive-through penalty that dropped him to the rear of the field. In an attempt to recover lost ground, <strong>Chip Ganassi Racing<\/strong> altered his strategy, but a delayed front-left tire change lengthened his subsequent pit stop even further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video class=\"video-js vjs-big-play-centered\" data-gp-vjs=\"1\" controls src=\"https:\/\/grandepremio-portal.b-cdn.net\/2026\/08\/batida-palou.mp4\"><\/video><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u00c1lex Palou crashed late in the GP of Washington (Video: IndyCar)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To make matters worse, Palou reported touching the wall during the closing stint of the race, causing damage to his suspension. <strong>The compromised rear toe-link eventually snapped 20 laps later<\/strong>, causing the Spaniard to spin out and hit the barrier, triggering a caution flag. Beyond missing out on the chance to secure the championship title early in Washington, the driver of car #10 watched <strong>Kyle Kirkwood<\/strong> dominate the race and trim his points advantage <strong>from 133 to 91 points<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;It was one of those races where I really wanted to do well, I wanted to take the win, so it hurts a lot that we had such a bad day, but it&#8217;s okay. These things happen. At least I&#8217;m somewhat glad it all happened on the same day instead of being spread across different races. We had a couple of issues in the pit lane. One was my fault. The other was out of my control,&#8221; Palou said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Something also happened on track and I ended up touching the wall. After 20 laps, the rear suspension toe-link broke, and that was why I spun. It wasn&#8217;t a good day, but that&#8217;s fine,&#8221; Palou added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Alex-Palou-Freedom-250-Grand-Prix-of-Washington_-D_C_-By_-James-Black_Large-Image-Without-Watermark_m163628-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1020312766\" srcset=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Alex-Palou-Freedom-250-Grand-Prix-of-Washington_-D_C_-By_-James-Black_Large-Image-Without-Watermark_m163628-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Alex-Palou-Freedom-250-Grand-Prix-of-Washington_-D_C_-By_-James-Black_Large-Image-Without-Watermark_m163628-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Alex-Palou-Freedom-250-Grand-Prix-of-Washington_-D_C_-By_-James-Black_Large-Image-Without-Watermark_m163628-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Alex-Palou-Freedom-250-Grand-Prix-of-Washington_-D_C_-By_-James-Black_Large-Image-Without-Watermark_m163628-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Alex-Palou-Freedom-250-Grand-Prix-of-Washington_-D_C_-By_-James-Black_Large-Image-Without-Watermark_m163628-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Alex-Palou-Freedom-250-Grand-Prix-of-Washington_-D_C_-By_-James-Black_Large-Image-Without-Watermark_m163628-150x100.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u00c1lex Palou sees his championship lead trimmed to 91 points heading into Milwaukee (Photo: IndyCar)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;It was one of those bad days where, as soon as you get into a bad situation, you&#8217;re out of contention. Now it&#8217;s 91 points, so you can never be completely comfortable until everything is sealed. Today hurts more because of this specific race than for the championship. I think the good margin of points we had is great for a day like today, precisely so we can focus on Milwaukee now and try to win,&#8221; he concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">IndyCar returns this coming weekend with a double-header on the 1-mile oval at <strong>Milwaukee<\/strong>\u2014rounds 16 and 17 of the 2026 season\u2014located in West Allis, Wisconsin. <strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/\">GRANDE PR\u00caMIO<\/a><\/strong> provides full coverage of the event. Follow all updates on our <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/news\/\">news page<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Frequently asked questions (FAQ)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>1. Why was \u00c1lex Palou penalized during the IndyCar GP of Washington?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u00c1lex Palou received a drive-through penalty for unsafely exiting his pit box and striking an unattended tire belonging to Mick Schumacher&#8217;s crew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>2. What caused \u00c1lex Palou to crash late in the race?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A minor wall contact earlier in the stint damaged the rear suspension toe-link on Palou&#8217;s car, which snapped 20 laps later and sent him into a spin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>3. What is \u00c1lex Palou&#8217;s championship lead after the Washington race?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Palou&#8217;s lead over Kyle Kirkwood was reduced from 133 points to 91 points heading into the Milwaukee double-header.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00c1lex Palou dropped out of the lead pack after receiving a penalty for hitting Mick Schumacher&#8217;s tire in the pit lane, the first in a series of setbacks in Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1020312880,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"42wp_featured_image_caption":"\u00c1lex Palou","42wp_featured_image_credits":"IndyCar","42wp_featured_video":"","42wp_ai_content_disclaimer":"","42wp_is_ai_content":false,"42wp_featured_image_hidden":false,"42wp_authors_list":[],"footnotes":"","42wp_hide_from_automatic":false,"42wp_breaking_news":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,26,198],"42wp_author":[14],"class_list":["post-1191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indy","tag-alex-palou","tag-ganassi","tag-washington-gp","42wp_author-daniel-balsa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1191"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1192,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1191\/revisions\/1192"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1020312880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1191"},{"taxonomy":"42wp_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/42wp_author?post=1191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}