IndyCar champ Alex Palou ranks Max Verstappen above Schumacher and Senna in bold claim

Chip Ganassi Racing star Alex Palou won the 2025 IndyCar title and became a four-time champion of the premier American open-wheel racing series. The Spaniard has arguably been one of the best drivers in recent times, but recently came out and ranked Max Verstappen above Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna.

Max Verstappen has been a dominant force in motorsports for the last half a decade. Even when Mercedes dominated F1, the Dutchman was consistently showing up on the podium. The Red Bull driver won four consecutive F1 titles, including the dominant 2023 season, where he won 19 out of 22 races.

Even this year, Verstappen was 104 points behind the F1 championship lead after the Dutch GP, but got himself back in contention, and finished as the runner-up, losing the title by just 2 points to champion Lando Norris.

F1 Grand Prix Of Abu Dhabi 2025 - Source: Getty

Alex Palou sat down with Marca for an interview and discussed the 2025 IndyCar season, the Indy 500 and all things motorsports. The interviewer read out a message for the Spaniard from Mario Andretti and went on to ask Palou who was the best driver in the history of motorsports.

“It's very difficult to compare. For me, based on my childhood memories, it's Michael Schumacher. But perhaps I've amplified my memories, or perhaps they're real. Maybe back then I didn't understand much about cars, and now I do, and I'd see it differently,” said Alex Palou “I can't compare him to drivers from other eras, for example, Senna, whom I never saw race, although I've read about him, watched documentaries, and heard stories. And of the current drivers... Max could be one of those drivers who is the best in history. If we give him another 10 years, we'll be able to say that Max is probably the best in history,” added Alex Palou

Alex Palou on Max Verstappen winning the 2025 title had the Dutchman been in the McLaren

Max Verstappen had a poor start to the 2025 season as he consistently complained about the balance of the RB21. As Red Bull introduced a new upgrade at the Italian GP, Verstappen was able to push and started dominating race weekends.

From being considered out of the title fight to just losing it by a couple of points, the Red Bull star made an amazing comeback. Alex Palou came out and suggested that Verstappen would've wrapped up the 2025 title with multiple races left had the Dutchman had a car as dominant as McLaren.

“Max with the McLaren? Absolutely, yes, yes. He would have won weeks ago, two months ago. Do I think I would have won? I'm telling you, yes, I could have fought, but I wouldn't have won two months earlier. But Max is the only one who would have,” said Alex Palou (via MundoDeportivo)

McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were both in the title fight, and traded points every weekend. Also, the double disqualification for McLaren at Las Vegas also helped Verstappen in the title battle.

Edited by Pranay Bhagi