“Obviously I’m aware that F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport…” 2021 IndyCar champion and McLaren reserve driver Alex Palou talks about F1 hopes
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Alex Palou
Alex Palou, the 2021 IndyCar Champion (and who finished fifth in 2022, 50 points behind the winner, Will Power) will be McLaren’s reserve driver in 2023. He also tested the 2021 McLaren MCL35M and drove for the team in FP1 at the United States Grand Prix. It’s clear that he wants to enter Formula 1 – which he calls the ‘pinnacle of motorsport’, and he does not deny that.
Palou had tried to move away from Chip Ganassi to Arrow McLaren SP, and the plan was for him to eventually get into Formula 1 (as he said in the interview, every driver wants to get in an F1 car once). However, this didn’t work, and Chip Ganassi even filed a civil lawsuit against him. This matter was finally settled by September of last year, and the agreement saw him remain with his current team, but he was allowed to test for McLaren.
That does not mean that McLaren wanted him to replace Daniel Ricciardo. In an interview with Autosport, the Spaniard cleared this up: “It was clear to me that it couldn’t happen and that I was going to be racing. I knew I couldn’t be left without racing. So there was no such thing as someone not letting me race in IndyCar. [But] it was never the idea in 2023 to be in F1 as a main driver, there wasn’t the slightest chance. I knew 2023 was covered.”
Alex Palou will only be available for McLaren when his IndyCar schedule allows it
Alex Palou will be McLaren’s reserve driver in 2023, but unlike Mick Schumacher with Mercedes, he won’t be available for the team all the time. His current schedule just does not allow that, as he’s still going to be racing in IndyCar at least until September 10. When his F1 duties don’t coincide with any IndyCar races, he will be with the team. After September 10, he can still attend a maximum six race weekends.
Palou won’t be available all the time just to get the chance to replace a McLaren driver: “I’m 100% in IndyCar. When we announced [the McLaren F1 reserve driver role] we made it clear that I was going to be a reserve driver only when it didn’t coincide with IndyCar. I prefer it that way. I don’t want to be in Indy 500 and thinking that a McLaren driver has a headache and maybe I have to go and replace him.”
No tests aside from his normal ‘reserve driver’ duties are currently planned. Still, despite his clear interest in joining F1, he says that isn’t the be-all and end-all: “Not at all, I don’t think about it too much. Obviously I’m aware that F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport and that’s why I’ve decided to accept the possibility of joining a team, even if it’s as a test driver.”
Palou’s mentality is still the same: To win every race he can in IndyCar. He states that he’s just not ‘focused’ on Formula 1, and feels that IndyCar is quite ‘nice’ already. He also said that he isn’t thinking about moving across to F1 in 2024, which he would like, but he sees it as ‘very difficult’.
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