The motorsport world has been waiting for this for a long time: since Sebastien Bourdais, there has not been a successful driver from the American single-seater series who has made the leap into Formula 1.
13 years after the Frenchman’s last race, IndyCar champion Alex Palou was allowed to contest the first free practice session for McLaren in Daniel Ricciardo’s car in Austin.
The Spaniard had already contested a few test days for the team this year, but an IndyCar driver in an official session – that’s a rarity these days. “Of course it was a dream of mine to drive a Formula 1 car, but official training is something else again,” says Palou.
“It went by really quickly. I thought it would take a little longer, but it was only an hour,” says the Spaniard, who finished the session three seconds behind in 17th place and thus second best of the five Friday drivers.
But the 25-year-old was not out for times on Friday anyway. “I totally understand that the goal of the session wasn’t to beat times. It was more about saving tires for Daniel, which is helping him now,” said Palou.
Alex Palou on his Formula 1 test: Better too much than too little!
Nevertheless, Palou got a good impression of the current Formula 1 car.
“It’s fast, it’s crazy,” he enthuses. “I’ve already had a test with the 2021 car, but here you have traffic and you don’t want to hold anyone up. And of course it’s not your car either, so you want to take care of it and not cause any problems for the people driving this weekend .”
Nevertheless, the 2021 IndyCar champion really let it fly on the track: “I had the feeling that the car could do so much that I overdid it in some places,” he laughs. “But it’s better to overdo it than hold back when you only have an hour.”
Also, Palou knew he would only get one set of tires, so he had to give it his all from the start. “I couldn’t wait long,” he says. “Another set of tires at the end would have helped, but our program wasn’t to go fast. We wanted to gather data for the team, which is what we did. After that, we focused on me.”
Of course he pushed the engineers to give him another set of tires, as he says, “but I would do the same in their situation.”
But the same applies to Alex Palou: don’t break anything!
Palou was used to the IndyCar in recent years, but Formula 1 was a completely different challenge for him – especially in the fast corners in the first sector. “The car is significantly more susceptible to wind than an IndyCar,” he says. “It’s almost like here in the Oval: Even a little bit of wind damages the balance of the car enormously.”
“It was quite difficult in sector one, which didn’t exactly help me on my first day,” said Palou. “Of course I didn’t want to have an accident in my only free practice session.”
He also admits that he underestimated the car a bit: “The car was capable of more than I thought,” he says. That’s why he was a bit too careful, especially in the fast corners and in the last two corners. “But it wasn’t a question of self-confidence, the car was just more capable than I thought it would be. I just couldn’t believe how fast I could drive it.”
But couldn’t he have known that from virtual experiences? “It’s a game,” he emphasizes. “You can always restart, but I can’t restart with Daniel’s car. I’m not afraid of hurting myself, but I’m afraid of crashing a car that isn’t mine.”
Alex Palous comparison: IndyCar vs. Formula 1
Of course, after such a crossover, the question always arises as to how Formula 1 and IndyCar can be compared. “They are both racing cars,” says Palou. “But then it’s difficult to find more because they’re really completely different.”
According to him, Formula 1 is “a different league”, if only because of the size of the teams and the budgets. “In the IndyCar series, we’ve been driving the same chassis for ten, eleven years now and have had an update every two years.”
In addition, the Formula 1 car is of course significantly faster. For comparison: The lap record of the IndyCars in Austin is 1:48.8 minutes, that of Formula 1 is 1:36.1 minutes. The absolute fastest lap in qualifying by Valtteri Bottas is even four seconds faster.
“As a racer you get used to the speed, but it’s more about the car’s ability to go fast with the downforce in the corners and brake so late,” he says. “It’s just insane.”
That’s why the feeling in the Formula 1 car is even better: “I smile in IndyCar too, but maybe not like that. I would still smile a lot, but today it was twice as much,” he describes.
IndyCar champion Alex Palou: Formula 1 not on the radar
The question now is: Will the 2021 IndyCar champion have another Formula 1 chance or would he rather continue his career in the USA? “As a racing driver, you always want to be in Formula 1,” he says. “But in my career I realized that I can’t reach Formula 1.”
Until 2018, the Spaniard was moderately successful in the Formula 1 substructure and even drove four Formula 2 races. But his career was at a dead end, so he decided to jump into the SuperFormula in Japan, where he finished third overall in 2019. This was followed by the change to the IndyCar series, which he was able to win in his second year.
His newfound popularity drew the attention of McLaren, who wanted to sign him for 2023 in the IndyCar Series, but will have to wait another year after a legal battle with his previous team, Chip Ganassi. Despite this, he was already completing tests for the Formula 1 team at the same time.
“Curiously, the IndyCar Championship gave me the opportunity to be here today. And I’m enjoying every single second of it,” says Palou.
Nevertheless, he said goodbye to his Formula 1 dream: “I’m not pursuing it any further,” he wants to remain realistic. “But of course if someone offered me a place then I would take it. That’s the ultimate dream. But it’s not like I’m focused on that.”
IndyCar colleagues keep their fingers crossed for Alex Palou
In addition to Palou, his IndyCar colleague Patricio O’Ward is also interested in Formula 1. The Mexican is also part of McLaren’s test program and is allowed to drive the MCL36 at the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
O’Ward had also openly flirted with a move to Formula 1, but he doesn’t see competition for the first IndyCar driver in the premier class for a long time. “Of course, as a racing driver you always compete, but I don’t feel that way,” says Palou.
There is no outward envy among the other IndyCar pilots either, but they show up as a community and are happy for each other. “I got a lot of messages after training asking me how it was and how cool it was to see me there,” says Palou.
“I think the community in IndyCar is really good. We support each other a lot and we always want to see others succeed. But of course not in IndyCar! I can say that. I don’t want them to succeed in IndyCar . I want them to succeed elsewhere. But it’s cool what a community we have.”
Colton Herta, who was courted by AlphaTauri for a cockpit for 2023, was also part of the Formula 1 haze. However, a possible change was shattered because the American does not have enough super license points. That had caused discussions about the system and also about the evaluation of the American formula series.
Alex Palou confident: “Are able to drive in Formula 1”
Palou himself has his super license, but he still thinks it is “very unfair” that some series are not given the appropriate points. “Pato [O’Ward] doesn’t have enough, although he finished third, fourth and seventh.”
“A guy like him, who drives 17 weekends against people who have ten or 15 years more experience, can achieve a lot in Formula 1,” he is convinced. “But that’s just the rules and I hope they change that in the future.”
For him, the problem is not the high rating of Formula 2, because he also understands that the FIA would want the drivers to fight their way into the European series, “but if you get more points because you have some winter series in Thailand wins than when you finish fifth in the IndyCar series, I don’t know if that’s fair.”
“We understand that the FIA wants everyone to go down the European path and that’s totally understandable. But I think there should be a little more emphasis on the IndyCars, mainly because of the level of the drivers and also because of the length of the season,” said Palou.
“The track time we get is huge compared to a Formula 2 driver. I’m not saying we’re better, but I think we’re capable of driving in Formula 1.”