Palou putting IndyCar ahead of F1 ambitions - for now

Alex Palou says that he's focussing on his career in IndyCar for the time being, despite a successful outing with the McLaren F1 team in first practice at the United States GP in October.

Since then he's been confirmed as a reserve driver for the team for 2023, but he's made it clear that he'll only be on call when it doesn't clash with his commitments in the US open wheel series.

“I'm 100 per cent in IndyCar,” he insisted. “When we announced [the McLaren F1 role] we made it clear that I was going to be a reserve driver only when it didn't coincide with the IndyCar program.

• Read also: McLaren hands Palou F1 reserve driver role for 2023

“If it doesn't coincide with IndyCar, obviously instead of being at home I want to go and help the team on the track. And once the [IndyCar] championship is over, I'll be with them.

"I prefer it that way to be honest," the former GP3 and Formula 2 driver said in an interview with Motorsport.com during a presentation of a Movistar+ documentary on his life.

"I don't want to be at the Indy 500 and thinking that a McLaren driver has a headache and maybe I have to go and replace him… I don't want to be like that.

"I want to win races, I know that's how I can be happier and get to do more things or for more years," he added.

Ever since Palou won the 2021 IndyCar Series championship with Chip Ganassi Racing, the 25-year-old Spaniard has been linked to a future role in F1. But he insists it's not the foremost thing in his mind.

“Not at all, I don't think about it too much,” he said. “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.

“But at the same time my job is to win races," he continued. "If I hadn't won IndyCar I wouldn't have been given the opportunity of F1, so I think the mentality I have to have is the same: to keep trying to win every race.

“I'm already happy that I've been able to try more than one day in Formula 1 and learn so much. And I'm going to learn more during 2023," he added.

"There are no tests planned with McLaren F1 yet, but I guess we will be talking more in the next few days."

This year Palou found himself embroiled in a bitter contractual dispute for his services between Ganassi and McLaren's IndyCar operation, but that's all sorted now with Palou staying put at Ganassi.

"It was tough, because everyone wanted to talk to me about the same thing but I couldn't answer because there was a legal process going on," he commented, adding that he was pleased that “it worked out well".

"It was never the idea in 2023 to be in F1 as a main driver [with McLaren], there wasn't the slightest chance. I knew 2023 was covered,": he said.

“And I knew I couldn't be left without racing, so there was no such thing as someone not letting me race in IndyCar.

"At the last [2022 IndyCar] race it wasn't closed yet. That's 100 per cent real. It wasn't until two days later when everything was agreed, signed and everybody was happy.

“Now everything is fine, everything is great, as if nothing happened. I will be in Spain until after New Year, and then I will go to Indianapolis," he insisted. "We will be cold in Indianapolis in January and February, and then the season starts.”

But while that takes care of Palou's plans for 2023, beyond that the prospect of Formula 1 remains on the horizon.

“I'm not just focused on that. And I haven't thought about being in F1 in 2024. Obviously it would be great, but I see it as very difficult.

"As my dad says, I'm in an amusement park every day,so if there's a bigger one and I get a ticket to get in, I'm not going to say 'no," he explained. "But I'm not thinking about that bigger theme park. Mine I think is nice enough already."

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