“I couldn’t stop telling my wife…,” IndyCar Champion Alex Palou in awe of F1 after productive McLaren test
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Alex Palou
Alex Palou, the IndyCar driver was recently given the opportunity to do his test for McLaren in the MCL35M, and the Spaniard after his test is in total admiration of the pinnacle of motor racing.
Alex Palou has described his test as ‘perfect’ and has revealed that he soon wants to make the jump from IndyCar to Formula One. The 25-year-old, last week, was allowed to get behind the wheel of McLaren’s MCL35M alongside fellow IndyCar driver Pato Ward at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya.
Palou has found his experience of driving an F1 car extremely enjoyable, and while talking about it, said, “It is so different to all the other cars that a driver can drive before Formula 1 that when you get out of the car the first things that come to your mind are the acceleration, the braking… Basic things, because it is a massive change.”
“It’s unbelievable. First, I did an hour just to check that everything was going well in the car, check the seat and just give myself some time to get comfortable with the speed.“
“When I jumped off the car, I couldn’t stop telling my wife Esther and my father that it didn’t make any sense, not the opportunity itself, which it didn’t either, but the behavior of the car and how different it was.“
Alex Palou on whether he was able to get the maximum out of the MCL35M
Driving an F1 car is not everyone’s cup of tea, and while Alex Palou revealed that he had a fun outing at the Barcelona Circuit, he also admitted that he was not able to get 100 percent performance out of the car.
While talking about the same, Palou added, “100%, no. It is difficult to get the most out of the car with only 500 kilometers. You could do it, but there are some risks involved. It wasn’t that we were running against the clock, it was more of a progressive thing.”
“In the end, I am a race driver, and it is a race team, so what matters the most is to go fast, that’s for sure, but I don’t think it’s feasible to jump from an IndyCar to a Formula 1 and get the 100% out of the car in just one day.”
Alex Palou believes that it is not possible to get into an F1 car for the first time and immediately start getting the maximum out of it, moreover, he has also talked about his aspirations of getting into F1 on a full-time basis as a racing driver.
He further adds, “When you win IndyCar, the biggest goal I had ever set myself, then the doors open a little bit more and your aims too, I believe that we have proven in the United States that we can be really fast on ovals, in the Indy 500, we won the championship… Why not give Formula 1 a try?“
“Doing this test doesn’t mean that we will be there on the sidelines just in case something happens, but doing a test is better than none and I wanted to try Formula 1 at some point in my life. Now I’ve done it.”
Alex Palou has made it crystal clear that he wants to get into F1 and sees the McLaren test as a step in the right direction.
F1 is a sport where things remain pretty much the same for several years, and considering the number of drivers that try to get into F1 every year, can the Spaniard really get a seat at the pinnacle of motor racing in the future years of the sport?
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Rishabh Negi
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