Portrait of Álex Palou

Birthday profile

Álex Palou

Álex Palou, Spanish racing driver

Born
April 1, 1997
Age in 2026
29
Zodiac sign
Aries
Birth year
1997

About Álex Palou

Álex Palou Montalbo (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈaləks ˈpalɔw monˈtalbu]; born 1 April 1997) is a Spanish racing driver who drives for Chip Ganassi Racing in the IndyCar Series, where he won the 2021, 2023, 2024, and 2025 championships and the 2025 Indianapolis 500. Palou is the first Spanish racing driver to win a national championship in American open-wheel racing history and also the first Spaniard to win in the Indianapolis 500 and the GP3 Series. Palou is one of three drivers to have debuted with CGR by winning their first race (along with Michael Andretti and Dan Wheldon). In the first 55 races contested in the series, he became the third-best driver statistically behind Mario Andretti and A. J. Foyt, with eight wins, twenty-podium finishes, and thirty-seven top-ten finishes. He is the fourth driver to win three consecutive championships, after Ted Horn, Sébastien Bourdais, and Dario Franchitti, as well as the youngest four-time champion in IndyCar history (28 years, 4 months, and 9 days). Palou was a reserve driver for the McLaren Formula One team in 2022 and 2023, making his debut in free practice for the 2022 United States Grand Prix. Álex Palou Montalbo (Catalan pronunciation:; born 1 April 1997) is a Spanish racing driver who drives for Chip Ganassi Racing in the IndyCar Series, where he won the 2021, 2023, 2024, and 2025 championships and the 2025 Indianapolis 500. At the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain, Palou qualified fourth for the first race, but he slipped the clutch at the start and lost any opportunity to fight for the points. He also won a race at the Hungaroring to finish third in the series standings, missing out on the runner-up placing by one point to Artur Janosz.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when Álex Palou was born

Álex Palou was born in 1997. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1997

  • #1 song"Candle in the Wind 1997" – Elton John
  • Top movieTitanic
  • Top TV showSeinfeld
  • Best-selling bookHarry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone – J.K. Rowling

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentTiger Woods wins the Masters at age 21 by 12 strokes
  • Top headlinePrincess Diana dies in Paris car crash
  • Technology milestoneDeep Blue beats Garry Kasparov at chess
  • Defining fadTamagotchi virtual pets
  • Notable inventionWiFi (IEEE 802.11 standard)
  • World population5.85 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderBill Clinton
  • Sports championFlorida Marlins (World Series)
  • Also wonChicago Bulls (NBA)
  • U.S. population267.6M

1997 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Álex Palou's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19972026
Gas$1.23$3.45/gal
Average home$121,800$435,000
Average income$46,179$67,500
Minimum wage$5.15$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$4.59$11.95
Postage stamp$0.32$0.73
Population267.6M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Driver Database. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.