We’re approaching the final stages of the 2023 IndyCar season, but the future of championship leader and 2021 series champion Alex Palou remains up in the air.
While the Spaniard is expected to join Arrow McLaren next year and leave Chip Ganassi Racing after winning his second championship — barring unforeseen circumstances as he currently holds an 84-point lead over nearest challenger Josef Newgarden with 4 rounds to go — rumours about a future in Formula One for Palou continue to circle.
The 26-year-old has delivered an extraordinary level of consistency in the first 13 rounds of 2023. Palou’s lowest finish in a race this season to date is P8. He’s been on the podium 8 times, with half of those rostrum appearances coming as the winner of the race.
Should he maintain his current gap to P2 in the standings after Portland, it’ll be the first time since 2004 that the championship battle will not go down to the final round.
Palou is no stranger to F1 machinery as he has tested privately for McLaren and drove for them in FP1 at the United States Grand Prix last year. He’s expected to do the same this year once the IndyCar season comes to an end.
During a news conference ahead of this weekend’s Gallagher Grand Prix on the Indianapolis road course, Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin was asked about the possibility of Palou heading to Formula One.
The three-time Supercars champion believes Palou is deserving of an F1 seat, while also pointing out the TV numbers which have trended in a positive direction this year. As always, IndyCar is incredibly competitive, too.
“I think people are really starting to understand that I guess INDYCAR is probably the most competitive series in the world. You can’t really say otherwise. We’re always within a second of each other. It’s really solid. There’s different winners. There’s plenty of race strategy between the teams. Yeah, the racing product right now is really good. We see that in our TV numbers. It’s really strong.
“Obviously the speculation with Alex, probably no lie that he’s wanted to go to Formula 1 and have that opportunity. I certainly hope he does get an opportunity. I think he’s very good.”
Although McLaughlin believes the Spaniard is deserving of an F1 opportunity, he hopes Palou stays in the North American series.
The 30-year-old added that he thinks IndyCar is now getting the interest it deserves from other categories due to the quality of the drivers and the racing in it.
“At the same time, we want him [Palou] still in INDYCAR as well. But it’s cool that Formula 1 teams are really starting to take notice, other series around the world are starting to take notice of how good this product is, how good we are as a series.
“That’s a testament to the people that run it and people in the outside marketing department, social media really promoting the series. I think we’ve really taken a step forward this year, which has put everybody on the map, which is really cool.
“Hopefully Alex sticks around. If not, we’ll see what happens.”
Photo credit: Penske Entertainment | James Black
