Herta shares he was "surprised" by Palou's Mid-Ohio mistake

Colton Herta made some funny comments on Alex Palou's last minute mistake at the Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio that lost him the race win.

Chatting to Donohue post-race about the multiple strategic options the race threw up, he only became aware of Palou's mistakes during the interview to which he gave his immediate thoughts.

The Andretti driver said: "[I] can't say I feel bad for him. He's been pretty faultless, so I'm surprised that he's made a mistake."

A compliment in many ways to Alex Palou, who was his championship rival in 2024, the Spaniard was left annoyed by his mistake which gave Scott Dixon the lead and eventual race win.

Coming out of Turn Nine, Palou put two tires on the grass which lost him significant time.

Streaking past, Dixon then controlled the race using experienced defending to keep Palou behind. 

Clearly very keen to retake the lost position, Alex could be seen overdriving the car and making mistakes out of corners such as The Keyhole.

Herta's response comes as Palou has been nearly faultless so far this season with six wins across 10 rounds.

Herta has yet to win a race this season but drove a strong race in Mid-Ohio after a overall solid weekend.

However, he still believed there could have been more for him this weekend despite putting himself in the conversation for the win during the race.

Herta commented that he believed he "dropped" the ball in qualifying after he put himself in fifth for the start of the race.

He found himself stuck behind Kyffin Simpson for the first half of the race before Simpson suffered a brief issue that dropped him down to seventh which freed the American driver to chase after the top three.

However, the time behind Simpson made it too hard to catch which meant Herta eventually had to settle for a very admirable fourth.

He said: “I moved up one spot from the starting position. Although, I think we really should've qualified third yesterday. I dropped the ball on that. 

"I think our race looks a little different if I do that; I'm not stuck behind Kyffin and Seigel in the first stint. 

"They lost pace to the top 3 and I think I had more of the pace of Alex and Lundgaard."

The result moved Herta up to seventh in the championship.