Alex Palou made no secret of his ambition for this season.

The Spaniard enters the IndyCar season as the defending champion for the second successive season and is showing no signs of slowing down.

In a thrilling race at the 2025 Grand Prix on St. Petersburg on Sunday, Palou took victory to kick off the IndyCar season.

The three-time and reigning champion drove his car to a 2.8669-second victory over teammate and six-time series champion Scott Dixon.

Palou started eighth in qualifying but a strong strategy saw him earn his 12th career victory in the series.

It was a good day overall as his team Ganassi secured its first 1-2 finish since July 2023 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Speaking to exclusively to talkSPORT, Palou reflected on a brilliant day that saw him return to the top of the podium after lacking in race wins towards the end of last season.

“Feels amazing to to have won the first race of the season. It’s been the dream that we had since since Nashville ended,” Palou told talkSPORT.

“We ended up winning the championship last year, but honestly, on race results, we were struggling a little bit at the end of the season.

“So we wanted to start a year off strong. Already since practice, we saw that we had the fast car, a competitive car, a car that allowed me to push and to feel comfortable.”

Expectation is on for the 27-year-old this year with the opportunity to win a historic three IndyCar championships in a row.

Winning the title this year would see him join a rare club as Ted Horn (1946-48), Sebastien Bourdais (2004-07) and Dario Franchitti (2009-11) are the only other drivers to win three straight championships.

With Palou on the verge of history, the Ganassi driver didn’t shy from his season goals.

“Absolutely,” Paolu said on wanting to win a third-straight championship.

“It’s the goal. Like it’s a goal for this year is to to get three championships in a row. It’s it’s amazing to to say that we’re the only ones that can do this this year.

“If somebody else wants to do it, they’ll have to wait a couple of years to to have the chance to do it. So it won’t be easy.”

Palou was quick to add that the road to another title will be difficult and there is a element of mystery in terms of what the other teams can do this season.

“We cannot relax at all. We don’t feel like we know or that we we we’re ahead of the competition,” Palou added.

“We know the competition is tough and we know that we need to work super, super hard and we need to continue doing that.

“This win doesn’t mean that we can relax. It means that we need to continue pushing and and we need to keep on winning. What we need is consistency and winning races.”

It’s clear that in the pursuit of another championship, Palou is aware of becoming complacent as he becomes the driver with the target on his back.