Breaking news
Super Formula Suzuka II
Palou perplexed by first-to-last drop in Suzuka decider
Alex Palou says he has no definite answer as to how his Super Formula title bid unravelled in the title decider, the Spaniard slipping from first to last in a topsy-turvy race at Suzuka on Sunday.
Rachit Thukral Jamie Klein
Edited: Oct 29, 2019, 3:21 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Palou placed himself in a championship-winning position by getting the holeshot from pole, and lost only a single position in the opening stint despite running on the slower medium tyre.
However, the Nakajima Racing driver struggled for pace after bolting on a set of softs, and after losing several positions he made an additional pitstop that dropped him to the rear of the field.
The 22-year-old was eventually classified 19th at the flag, only ahead of B-Max driver Harrison Newey, who ran out of fuel on the final lap.
Palou says his team will have to dig deep to find answers about its lack of pace, but revealed that signs of something being “broken” on the car were apparent as early as his first stint.
“Last two laps in medium tyres I started losing like one, one second and a half,” Palou told Motorsport.com. “Didn’t know why.
“And then on softs as soon I pushed I knew the grip was not there. So yeah don’t really know what happened today but for sure something was not in our side.
“Yeah, I don’t know to be honest. I’ll have to look. Something that was broken just doing medium tyres or it was setup, I don’t know.”
He added: “My first [guess] was tyre temperature but then I could see it was not. So for sure something, we don’t know broken but something bad. We have to analyse, that moment I don’t know.”
Third in the championship: Alex Palou, Nakajima Racing
Photo by: Masahide Kamio
Despite his defeat, Palou says he can be “proud” of his campaign in Super Formula, having finished as the top rookie and led a rejuvenated Nakajima Racing squad to third in the teams’ standings.
He also scored three pole positions this year, the highest of any driver, in addition to a lights-to-flag victory in treacherous wet conditions at Fuji.
“So now I’m really a little bit depressed but I think after five minutes I’ll be alright,” he said. “Happy with the year, we did three poles, rookie of the year, third in the championship.
“We were really quick right away. So I’m looking really strong, really happy with the result. Hopefully next year we can win it."
He added later: “I’m really proud. I’m happy inside. Maybe tonight or tomorrow I’ll see this much better. I’m really happy like now. I’m super happy. We did an amazing thing.
“But I was really hungry and I was really confident to win this championship. Not that I think we were champions, but I was committed to do what it takes. And I think just we missed it today.
"It is what it is. It is racing. Sometimes it is on our side, sometimes it is not. Let’s take all this work we did this year and take it forward for the next one.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Cassidy in tears after "special" Super Formula triumph
Next article Dandelion boss shoulders blame for Yamamoto defeat
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Rachit Thukral
Why aerodynamics will become "even more important" under 2027 MotoGP regulations
MotoGP
MotoGP
Qatar GP
11 h
Why aerodynamics will become "even more important" under 2027 MotoGP regulations
Sebastien Bourdais hopes latest WEC success will remind teams of his value
WEC
WEC
Monza
12 h
Sebastien Bourdais hopes latest WEC success will remind teams of his value
More from
Alex Palou
How Spanish engineering and Alex Palou brought IndyCar to Barcelona
Feature
IndyCar
Feature
IndyCar 15 d
How Spanish engineering and Alex Palou brought IndyCar to Barcelona
Herta endorses IndyCar’s international return with Barcelona while marveling at Palou’s dominance
IndyCar
IndyCar 18 d
Herta endorses IndyCar’s international return with Barcelona while marveling at Palou’s dominance
IndyCar set to drop Nashville Superspeedway and D.C. for 2027; Barcelona announcement looms
IndyCar
IndyCar 22 d
IndyCar set to drop Nashville Superspeedway and D.C. for 2027; Barcelona announcement looms
More from
Nakajima Racing
Kvyat in line for surprise Super Formula test chance
Super Formula
Super Formula Oct 11, 2023
Kvyat in line for surprise Super Formula test chance
Dunlop: We don’t need more testing, we need more cars
Super GT
Super GT Oct 10, 2023
Dunlop: We don’t need more testing, we need more cars
Yamamoto to miss final Super Formula, SUPER GT races after Sugo crash
Super GT
Super GT
Sugo
Sep 26, 2023
Yamamoto to miss final Super Formula, SUPER GT races after Sugo crash
Latest news
TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
4 h
TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale
Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Homestead
5 h
Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 9 h
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe