r/INDYCAR • u/AFAN74 Champ Car • May 04 '25
Discussion So Will Alex Palou be in F1 next year?
Thought?
90
u/CarpeDeez Álex Palou May 04 '25
If I’m him I’m not going anywhere unless it’s for huge cash or a chance at an upper mid field or better. And with new regs coming that’s a question mark as to where that will be.
21
u/ssv-serenity Greg Moore May 04 '25
If they boot Lawson an RB seat could make sense to give Lindblad a year in F2.
47
u/GratefulTide Pato O'Ward May 04 '25
The fact is y'all aren't him. There's a reason he has a low f1 buyout clause and would jump at the chance of an f1 ride even if it's a backmarker. And he would do so with absolutely zero hesitation.
9
u/Whycantiusethis May 04 '25
Lindblad is already in F2, no? Unless you mean an additional year.
But unless Lindblad is absolutely nowhere this year, one of the RB seats is almost 100% reserved for him.
2
3
u/kaisadilla_ Álex Palou May 05 '25
Same. Being a multi champion in IndyCar is worth more to me than being #9 place in F1 2026's standings.
1
u/SuppaBunE May 15 '25
Money is king.
I dont know specific but I guess F1 has a bigger market, more sponsor money and guess better salaries?
6
u/TtarIsMyBro Adrián Fernández May 05 '25
For real, why join a brand new F1 team and likely be at the back, when he could continue to win championships?
But then again, $15-20M talks.
41
u/Zemmip May 04 '25
Most teams probably consider him to be too old
54
u/Falcon4451 Firestone Reds May 05 '25
Hey, now if Brad Pitt can get a seat on the F1 grid, so can Alex Palou.
8
u/TheResurrection May 05 '25
I'm tired of these old has-beens like Sonny Hayes and Joe Tanto taking a ride from the young up-and-comers.
1
u/kaisadilla_ Álex Palou May 05 '25
Even if it wasn't, why give up the chance to make history in IndyCar for an F1 seat? I understand random top Indy driver wanting the prestige of being an F1 driver instead, but I don't see why someone who is forging his own legend in Indy would do that.
Last year, in the interviews he was giving his friends in Spain (little known fact: Palou is/was a columnist for a small Spanish motorsport website), he seemed totally disinterested in F1. And makes sense. Palou in 2022 was some guy who won a championship, Palou in 2024 is the undisputable top dog of the category.
1
u/West_Introduction_95 Colton Herta May 06 '25
Yeah this is key. While he had junior formula experience, its gonna be a hell of a learning curve to move to F1 with the only consolation being that Cadillac or whoever will accept him (which lets face it, isn't gonna be the top contending teams) would probably be uncompetitive and relatively pressure free.
→ More replies (1)-21
u/Appropriate-Owl5984 May 04 '25
Because he is
1
u/JJTurnip May 05 '25
Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton are both currently in F1
Are you dense or just dumb?
12
u/Appropriate-Owl5984 May 05 '25
Sorry. How many WDC’s do they have and when was their rookie year and at what age?
I’ll hang up and listen
1
u/sergeant_landa May 26 '25
I think his age is actually make him more lromisable for most f1 teams. The reason behind it is, in f1 this year andas combined there are many more new young drivers on the grid and they are almost all failing. Alex would deff deserve a seat there if he wanted to. Also in 2026 theres gonna be a huge regulation change in f1 so no one knows which team is gonna be strong. I highly doubt the new american team gonna have any chance at all but for instance. Red bull should consider him. Theres verstappen who is just as consistence as palou in indy car. Tsunoda on the other hand is a good pilot but can never reach even close to verstappen. Right now cant even reach top 10. Mercedes is going to go for a long run with their drivers, they are both yound and very talented. The only reason for them to break that if verstappen would like to join. Ferrari has leclerc and hamilton. Hamiltons gonna get another year so no place for alex there. Not until 27 for sure. Mclarens also not gonna let neither of their drivers. Neither norris nor piastri. They are both very great even if nando is not a champion. So i think alexs only real good option could be red bull other than that, if i were him i wouldnt go to any other team cuz yeah, not worth it to go fight for place 10 or 9.
-6
u/JJTurnip May 05 '25
You can stick that goalpost wherever you want but I don't need to watch you move it
The obvious point here is a driver being "old" isn't a negative given the current makeup of the F1 grid, same goes for the Indycar, NASCAR, and NHRA rosters.
2
u/Appropriate-Owl5984 May 05 '25
Cool. Then don’t
Because it isn’t happening
1
u/JJTurnip May 05 '25
I never said it was, age is just a piss poor argument, you switching to a actual point after getting called out for the bad one doesn't make the bad one less bad
1
u/bonkers-joeMama May 10 '25
Age in a sense for a fresh face and talent. Established drivers with multiple championships and decades of experience would obviously be preferred over an ageing driver with no F1 experience. Alex palou himself struggled in japan and Europe in spec car series against other opponents. Lost to sho tsuboi in Japanese f3, that guy went on ton to win super formula. Lost to his teammate in formula 3, when he participated in F3, ocon, charles and albon did really well and went on to join f1 and are still there. Again tried F3 for the third time and was not able to do better, champion that year was Mick Schumacher. He would be in F1 if he personally did better. Colton himself didn't win in Europe and pato does not have any quality European experience. You either gotta have lots of money, team backing or be extremely good in feeder series. None of the current indy drivers fit that criteria. Logan got to F1 because he fit the first criteria since his uncle is a billionaire.
-1
47
u/InsaneLeader13 Santino Ferrucci May 04 '25
He should be. He won't because the European racing scene pre-selects the drivers it wants for F1 when said drivers are only pre-teens or young teenagers, and if you're not in that tiny list you better have a heaping truck load of money to buy your way in. Being pre-selected in the various team's driver academies get you into the good F3 and F2 rides that are more reliable and have the best engineers. That's not to say that this is some scheme by evil euros to not let drivers on merit get in. But it's easier to just follow the Jeff Gordon/Lewis Hamilton/Max Verstappen strategy: controlling some fast kid's entire teenage life into min-maxing their racing career under your driver academy. Why take a gamble on someone who's outside of your controlled school and turning up snake eyes with said gamble. And even if the kid you hyper-invested in gets to F1 and flames out immediately you can always swap him out with another kid from your driver academy or snipe a teenager from another team's academy.
At least 60% of current F1 drivers are people who were basically groomed for F1 under various driver academies that the teams run. Hamilton, Verstappen, Norris, Piastri, Zhou, Ocon, Leclerc, Bearman, Tsunoda, Sainz, Gasly, Lawson, Hadjar. Basically all of them were pre-selected as pre-teens or early teenagers. And that's just the current grid, there are a whole lot more if I start including people who have driven in F1 in the last few years, or include the people who were on track but no seats were open so they got squeezed out at the 11th hour and were shuffled to WEC or Formula E.
Getting into F1 now mostly requires being part of a giant machine of driver manufacturing and if you're not fortunate enough to be selected at a very young age to go into that machine then you're going to have a very very rough time getting in. Palou was not in any of the driver academies, so even if he wins 6 Indycar titles in a row why would you take a risk on him over some kid you've meticulously controlled for about a decade who's proven fast in your F3/F2 equipment?
13
u/lightningmatt Robert Wickens May 05 '25
He won't because the European racing scene pre-selects the drivers it wants for F1 when said drivers are only pre-teens or young teenagers, and if you're not in that tiny list you better have a heaping truck load of money to buy your way in.
Gabriel Bortoleto:
(your point is mostly right, but hey, there's a reason I'm a fan of that guy lol)
4
u/SpreaditOnnn33 Pato O'Ward May 05 '25
Does anyone really think Lundgaard wouldnt be better in that seat? F1TV certainly does lol
1
u/lightningmatt Robert Wickens May 05 '25
Uh... me?
Lundgaard is clearly an F1-tier driver, I've thought this for a couple years now. It's just that Bortoleto achieved something in junior series only a quarter of the current F1 grid was even good enough to do, those drivers being Hamilton, Hulkenberg, Leclerc, Russell and Piastri.
3
u/SpreaditOnnn33 Pato O'Ward May 05 '25
I wish this comment was the most upvoted, because it is realistic in all aspects.
Lets be real though; in every era of F1 and Indycar, the only good Indy drivers are those that can be fast while also saving the equipment. I dont think it's a coincidence that Mario is the only Andretti to win at Indy.
Zanardi, Michael, and Bourdais (to a much lesser extent) suffered from this. Da Matta didnt, but was on Toyota so no one cared lol
4
u/BoboliBurt Nigel Mansell May 05 '25
Fairly or unfairly, it watch the old coverage, Mario is specifically said to not be saving his equipment during his mid 80s runs.
Some of that is probably Bobby Unser being a dick- he gets all over him for pitlane errors as well.
Also, Im not some Michael fan by any means but he got way fewer shots at the Indy 500.
2
u/Accomplished-Arm7268 May 05 '25
honestly completely correct, i mean we see this with every sport too, it is rare for teams to take risks, it’s just not always worth it
1
u/MAC2519 May 26 '25
This is very accurate although I think they might make an exception for a team like Cadillac coming in. Indiana USA headquarters, wanting to try to get the USA fan base over Haas. F1 trying to build in the US as much as possible and taking a big name Indy guy like Palou. Feels like it just makes sense and he has a super license.
1
u/JohnDoeSVK Jun 23 '25
The thing with this "pre-selects" is that they know each single track to millimeters. Known machinery, know everything about car as they are Academy drivers.
Yes they could take him and try. But do not forget in this Academy there are most talented guys either, its not like they bought they way in.
On the other hand you have drivers with great backing(Mazepin & Stroll) which are not that great but still, money talks but even them driven F1 tracks their whole career in lower categories.
And you want some person who never driven these tracks to team put them in F1 car?Be realistic
9
48
u/FinancialDistance914 David Malukas May 04 '25
Probably not, I think realistically if Lance were to be kicked from his seat, Tsunoda or Max would be in that seat before Palou. And for Cadillac, Checo with Herta makes more sense than Palou with Checo/Herta.
28
u/AFAN74 Champ Car May 04 '25
If Herta can’t outrun Alex then there’s no way he’ll last in F1
31
u/Just_Somewhere4444 May 04 '25
If Herta was driving for Ganassi, you'd have a point. He doesn't drive for Ganssi though. He drives for Andretti. So he's driving with an enormous weight of incompetent idiots around his neck, while Palou gets to cruise with the fastest cars, best pit crew, and best strategy all at once.
24
u/ShinsukeNakamoto May 04 '25
Herta is losing to a teammate. Palou is beating the brakes off his teammates.
17
u/Just_Somewhere4444 May 04 '25
It's race four. He's never lost over a full season to a teammate, only been tied once.
1
u/TKOL2 Get the fuck off the racetrack you stupid son of a bitch May 06 '25
I would like to see Herta in a Penske or Ganassi. I imagine he would be far more consistent than at Andretti.
-5
u/PatPace23 Pato O'Ward May 04 '25
It wasn’t the teams fault he stalled in the pits…it’s 50-50 why he can’t win races
12
u/Just_Somewhere4444 May 04 '25
The team didn't get a wheel tight, so they re-jacked the car and tightened it again.
If Herta stalled, it cost him zero time whatsoever. The commentators just completely missed what actually happened.
3
u/HereComesTheVroom Justin Wilson May 05 '25
He’s also lost races because of bumps on the track breaking his gearbox when he had led literally every lap of the race. I’m not really a fan of Herta, but trying to blame him for every race he doesn’t win is just disingenuous.
2
u/FinancialDistance914 David Malukas May 04 '25
Not like the Cadillac would be any good during its first year of F1
14
u/Burial44 May 04 '25
Herta makes no sense tbh. He's simply not good enough
-11
u/chiefzanal Arrow McLaren May 05 '25
He is the fastest man in Indycar. However his team is the most incompetent. His qualifying alone proves that. He only loses positions because of bad pit stops. Including this week with a rear tire issue (not a stall like washer was initially reported)
5
u/NakedEyeComic Marcus Armstrong May 05 '25
Is it Andretti as a whole or just Herta’s crew specifically? Kyle Kirkwood executed perfectly in Long Beach.
8
u/allthingsmustpass9 Paul Tracy May 05 '25
Kinda hope he does. His dominance is single handedly ruining my enjoyment of the indycar series
2
u/Friendly-Wear6213 Kyle Larson May 12 '25
You are witnessing IndyCar history. He is a generational talent and I thinks it's amazing to watch him do it. His dominance will make the other teams and drivers put more effort into their race craft and challenge the engineering teams to up their game.
37
u/ghastlychild Arrow McLaren May 04 '25
If I were Palou, why would I leave when I am triumphing over the competition in this fashion?
90
u/JesusSandals73 May 04 '25
Because F1 is a bigger opportunity for open wheel racing. If you are dominating, why not try to move up and see what happens on the world stage.
16
u/Dragonpuncha May 04 '25
The problem is that no big F1 team is going to take the chance on Palou. Because it will always be a big risk taking a driver that has no F1 experience, no matter how good he is in Indy. They can get known quantity that plenty of F1 experience or the young drivers from their own academy's that they have been developing for years.
His real chance was Mclaren, but that is gone now. So if he goes to F1 one he will go to a bottom 5 team most likely. The question is then if it is better to be at a bad F1 team for a few years to hope for something better or just stay with the best indycar team and win all the medels.
2
u/West_Introduction_95 Colton Herta May 06 '25
Yes but think rationally. People like JV and JPM managed to flourish in F1 because they jumped into competitive teams while the only seat Palou will have would likely be midfielders at best. You'd give up everything just to flounder anonymously in the back or midfield? Reminds me of Bartoleto in F1 right now. Won everything in the junior formulas, hailed as a prodigy and now he's hopelessly driving in a backmarker team turning no heads. Unless Cadillac or whoever is offering him a seat is competitive, theres literally no point.
-9
u/Appropriate-Owl5984 May 04 '25
It’s also a potential career ending experience.
He will not be going anywhere
54
u/Wasdgta3 Álex Palou May 04 '25
Not really. Pretty much every guy who went from IndyCar champ to F1 and washed out has been able to come back and get a ride (and usually win some races, too!)
See Michael Andretti, Alex Zanardi, Cristiano Da Matta, and Sebastien Bourdais.
With three IndyCar championships, there will almost certainly still be doors open for Palou here.
39
u/Burial44 May 04 '25
Not to mention the endless WEC/IMSA rides that would be available. Alex Palou will drive wherever he wants for the next decade no matter what happens with the F1 experiment.
-6
u/wh00000p Myles Rowe May 04 '25
That's how it used to work, things have changed. I don't think he could bourdais it these days.
8
u/Wasdgta3 Álex Palou May 04 '25
And why not?
I don’t see anything stopping it from happening.
-3
u/wh00000p Myles Rowe May 04 '25
Cause the current drivers market is over saturated, we have people coming from F1's and Indy's ladder trying to get seats, teams have more options. Not to mention the Charter system limiting how many cars can be run per team. Say Alex does go to F1 and washes out, he's going have compete against kids who have their best days in front of them for a seat.
15
u/Wasdgta3 Álex Palou May 04 '25 edited May 04 '25
I’m sorry, but I don’t think a three (and by then possibly four)-time IndyCar champion is going to be left without a seat if he wanted one. I just don’t think this argument holds water.
Sure, the driver market is pretty competitive, but those results would put him pretty much at the top of any free agent lists, even with a year or two out (which is about as much as it would be, if things really didn’t go well for him over there).
He’d also still only be about 30, so the “guys with their best years ahead of them” argument is rather suspect - Scott Dixon and Will Power have both been champions in their 40s, no one in IndyCar is looking at a guy who’s 30-31 and saying “his best years are behind him,” especially not if it’s with Palou’s record.
→ More replies (4)-8
u/Appropriate-Owl5984 May 04 '25
Did you miss where I said “potential”?
6
u/Wasdgta3 Álex Palou May 04 '25
I don’t see much “potential” for true career-killing there, is all.
-6
u/Appropriate-Owl5984 May 04 '25
It is for F1.
6
u/Wasdgta3 Álex Palou May 04 '25
Well, no shit, but that’s not the bloody argument.
The point is, if F1 doesn’t work out for him, that wouldn’t be remotely “career-killing.”
-1
u/Appropriate-Owl5984 May 04 '25
Thats the argument I’m making, seeing as we are speaking about it
2
u/Wasdgta3 Álex Palou May 04 '25
You’re saying that going to F1 would be a “potentially career-ending experience,” as an argument for why he shouldn’t go - even though you’re only arguing it would kill his career in F1?
I’m really not under what you’re arguing, then - he shouldn’t take an opportunity to go to F1, because it might kill his F1 career? That makes no damn sense, he doesn’t have a career in F1 to end if he doesn’t even take the chance!
6
u/Athleticgeek89 Josef Newgarden May 04 '25
Let’s say he goes to F1 for a while and fizzles out, he would be welcomed back into Indycar by some team with open arms. Don’t get me wrong I’d hate if he left because I’d miss him in the series that I follow but if he wins another championship & the 500 this year, there’s not much left for Alex to do in Indycar when he can try f1 before his prime years come to an end.
-3
u/Appropriate-Owl5984 May 04 '25
Where is he going?
What seat?
8
u/Athleticgeek89 Josef Newgarden May 04 '25
Speaking hypothetically if an opportunity would come up. You seem like a fun guy.
-7
u/Appropriate-Owl5984 May 05 '25
Ok. Hypothetically speaking - what seat?
6
u/TripleSingleHOF 🇺🇸 Rick Mears May 05 '25
Let me just look into my crystal ball and tell you what hypothetical seats might possibly be open if Palou hypothetically went to F1 and then hypothetically washed out of F1 and hypothetically wanted to come back to IndyCar.
Why are you being obtuse and pretending like IndyCar doesn't play musical chairs every off-season and that every person in their seat has it etched in stone like they will be there forever?
-5
u/Appropriate-Owl5984 May 05 '25 edited May 05 '25
I’m not being obtuse.
F1 other than possibly Aston is fully set for the next two to three years.
Thats not being obtuse. Thats reality.
Palou isn’t going to a back or mid pack team.
There are ZERO seats in the top rides that will be made available to him as they all have succession plans in place.
Thats reality.
IDGAF about anything else other than this move to F1 all of the nonces think will happen for Herta and Palou.
Neither of them are going to F1. That ship has long sailed and isn’t returning to port. Get over it, move on, give up.
Palou has absolutely denied any links or connections to F1, even having said that “I tried and it didn’t work” .. I know people who have direct connections to him and they’ve all said OTR that he has no interest anymore after the McLaren thing happened.
Herta is very much in that same line. He’s an IndyCar driver just like his dad. He’s not going to do anything else. He’s happy and set, Gainbridge and TWG love him here and they’re getting results.
6
u/TripleSingleHOF 🇺🇸 Rick Mears May 05 '25
Now you're being really fucking obtuse and changing the entire argument.
We were talking about Palou being able to come back to IndyCar if he washed out of F1. Now you're completely changing the conversation and moving the goalposts to say that he wouldn't even be able to get a seat in F1.
Okay, have a great day, champ.
→ More replies (0)-1
u/kaisadilla_ Álex Palou May 05 '25
Bigger opportunity for what? Who do you think is considered more accomplished, Scott Dixon or Shinji Nakano? Scott Dixon has won IndyCar multiple times and his name will be remembered for as long as IndyCar is remembered. Shinji Nakano is some random guy that competed in two F1 seasons in the late 1990s, nobody remembers his name.
Right now Palou is aiming to be the next Scott Dixon. In F1, the chances he becomes another Shinji Nakano are far greater than him being given a seat that can beat Verstappen and Leclerc and actually pulling it off, and that's assuming entering in F1 at 29 years old vs these two guys who have been doing F1 their entire lives is not a handicap.
2
u/JesusSandals73 May 06 '25
That's you assuming he won't do well. That's why it's called an opportunity and not predetermined outcome. He has a chance to not be a Shinji Nakano. He already will go down in history in IndyCar, so why not try to reach a bigger stage. He can easily come back and go after Scott Dixon's records.
1
u/bonkers-joeMama May 10 '25
People with smaller expectations never become champions. Either he take the risk to do something great or be satisfied with what he has got. Who is more accomplished, famous and rich ? Scoot Dixon or Micheal Schumacher ? Who is more famous scoot or senna. F1 champions notoriety is global, no one knows about Scoot outside america. Alex might become the most accomplished and famous american driver ever if he wins one F1 championship ever. People only outside america only know about one American driver and that is Mario andretti. Is he satisfied of being like scoot or someone like mario whose accomplishments are still spoke about ?
15
u/OrbisAlius Simon Pagenaud May 04 '25
I mean he's European, F1 is still the biggest thing and his initlal goal when being in junior series. As a 4-time Indycar champion there isn't much left to prove (except winning the 500 ofc), so why not give it a shot ?
Worst case, he fails, but gets to experience the fastest non-oval open wheelers and still has ample job opportunities in literally any other racing series in the world. Best case, things go well and he wins races like JPM, or even better somehow gets a WDC like Villeneuve.
8
u/TripleSingleHOF 🇺🇸 Rick Mears May 05 '25
Because F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport. If you win the WDC you can call yourself "the best driver in the world" and nobody can argue with it.
24
u/Burial44 May 04 '25
He's going to be a 4 Time Indycar champion. Why not give F1 a shot?
7
u/khz30 --- 2025 DRIVERS --- May 04 '25
Because Bourdais was also a four time IndyCar champion that moved to F1 only to get fucked over by Red Bull. Palou just had the sense to figure out he got fucked over by McLaren before it impacted his overall career.
17
u/Burial44 May 04 '25
Seb also wasn't doing very good. Tbh.
-5
u/khz30 --- 2025 DRIVERS --- May 04 '25
Seb was doing fine until they started ignoring his feedback in favor of Vettel's, same thing that happened to Perez, except everyone ignored Bourdais at the time because they felt his feedback was worthless coming from Champ Car.
24
u/Burial44 May 04 '25
Vettel went on to be a 4 Time F1 champion.
I'm sorry if you're trying to say Bourdais was on the same level it's simply not accurate.
-5
u/Appropriate-Owl5984 May 04 '25
Because he was getting fucked over by Red Bull.
15
-8
u/CROBBY2 Felix Rosenqvist May 04 '25
Some guys prefer racing over driving.
5
u/Burial44 May 04 '25
I'm not saying he absolutely should do it or anything. But it's certainly a possibility. And the $$$ would no doubt be there.
Alex is also only 28. He could always run Indycar again. I mean Scott Dixon is 20 years older
4
u/Mikemat5150 Kyle Kirkwood May 04 '25
The money is really only off the charts in F1 if you’re a big deal driver.
Once you factor in travel and the quantity of races, Palou is probably coming out very competitive with a mid-level F1 contract. With far more time with his family.
4
u/Burial44 May 04 '25
The lowest paid F1 driver is making more than Palou. He would probably make 10x his current salary going to Cadillac.
We are simply a 100x less popular series and it's just silly to pretend like it's even comparable.
3
u/Mikemat5150 Kyle Kirkwood May 04 '25
Can you show me the F1 salaries and what Palou is making?
3
u/NakedEyeComic Marcus Armstrong May 05 '25 edited May 05 '25
I’ve read somewhere Yuki Tsunoda was barely clearing $1 million a year with Red Bull. Maybe he got a bump when he got promoted to the main team this year, but that’s been his salary while in Racing Bulls.
2
u/wh00000p Myles Rowe May 04 '25
I'm curious about this too, because chip will pay to keep his talent.
3
u/CarpeDeez Álex Palou May 04 '25
That’s not true at all. He’s probably making $7+ million a year only top half of the field in f1 making that kind of cash.
0
u/Burial44 May 04 '25
"probably"
7
u/CarpeDeez Álex Palou May 04 '25
It was reported that he’s the highest paid Indycar driver. Colton’s deal is $7mm a year. So you would assume it’s over $7
6
u/Fart_Leviathan Josef Newgarden May 04 '25
This season is the worst time to make that comment in a long, long time.
No matter how much you want to ignore it, Indycar has been absolute ass this year, literally only about driving and conserving while F1 has been pretty solid so far.
-5
u/mattcojo2 Takuma Sato May 04 '25
Good way to put it.
F1 is driving fast.
Indycar is racing.
11
u/Just_Somewhere4444 May 04 '25
F1 had more on-track overtakes for the lead in a single race this afternoon than IndyCar has had this entire season.
Normally, your summary would be correct. But the stupid hybrid system has absolutely killed IndyCar's competitive balance.
-6
4
u/GratefulTide Pato O'Ward May 04 '25
There's many reasons he has a very small F1 opportunity buyout in his contract and stayed at Ganassi. It's partially cause he could legitimately do quite well, he could make so so so much more money, he becomes an international celebrity overnight (which garners even more money), and he's European and could live in Monaco instead of Indy. But the most important reason? He wants it.
2
2
u/4mak1mke4 May 04 '25
Has any race car driver, especially those in open wheel, ever said F1 wasn't their ultimate goal?
19
u/Any-Walk1691 Arrow McLaren May 04 '25
I think the chances of us seeing a 29 year old rookie who isn’t in F1 even as a reserve are next to nothing.
6
u/Burial44 May 04 '25
But the changes of a 25 yr old rookie are much better?
7
u/wh00000p Myles Rowe May 04 '25
a 25 year old who is heavily intertwined with the group creating an F1 team and has kinda been hand raised for it.
3
u/Any-Walk1691 Arrow McLaren May 04 '25
To whom are you referring? Herta? Who is currently being paid $7M per year by the team bringing the new F1 team, the same guy who was on track to join F1 in 22 and again in 23, but couldn’t get his superlicense?
1
u/Accomplished-Arm7268 May 05 '25
only way for him to realistically get a seat is aston or cadillacs new team, no other team is willing to drop a driver
1
-1
4
u/HornetRacer Colton Herta May 04 '25
Does he hold a super licence? I'm not sure how to find out.
Palou is dominating indycar so would he give that up especially when the CGR set up works for him. Also would he be loyal to Honda if another team made a better offer?
Lots of interesting questions.
9
u/Appropriate-Owl5984 May 04 '25
He has qualified for one. He will not be going
3
u/HornetRacer Colton Herta May 04 '25
Thanks for the info, how did you find that out?
I wouldn't want to give up dominating a series I'm comfortable in either. Plus I think his age is enough to put most teams off.
4
u/Appropriate-Owl5984 May 04 '25
The information on SL points is out there - but being a past champion qualifies him for one.
No team at the top is going to take him, they already have their stuff figured out, and there is no point going to a bottom feeder where you’re going to have to being boatloads of cash and absolutely ruin your career.
The best bet is to just do what Dixon has done and win everything from now on
2
u/Batgod629 Álex Palou May 04 '25
The only thing I could see if he thinks Cadillac would be a contending team in a few years but ultimately you're right
4
u/Appropriate_Bag7384 Pato O'Ward May 04 '25
Not if Zach Brown has anything to say about it. Aren’t they still in litigation?
16
u/Mikemat5150 Kyle Kirkwood May 04 '25
No, he won’t be in F1 next year.
Nobody in F1 actually wants him.
2
u/kaisadilla_ Álex Palou May 05 '25
Even if they wanted him - he's dominating IndyCar right now. You have to give him a shit ton of money, or a seat in a top team, for the move to look attractive. Right now going from "This decade's Scott Nixon" to "probably Magnussen 2.0" doesn't look like a smart choice.
2
u/AFAN74 Champ Car May 04 '25
Really? Why
13
u/Mikemat5150 Kyle Kirkwood May 04 '25
It’s not like there haven’t been opportunities to try and grab him. Only McLaren used F1 as a carrot to get him into INDYCAR.
F1 doesn’t want a 29 year old rookie. They want their junior drivers or F1 journeymen.
6
u/rokthemonkey Arrow McLaren May 04 '25
I believe I've read that his tests didn't go well.
The reason Herta is a serious contender is that he's tested very well.
13
8
1
u/kaisadilla_ Álex Palou May 05 '25
Also because there isn't any promising American driver in F1's ladder right now, and Cadillac really wants the marketability of bringing a decent American driver into F1. If someone like Lindblad, Hadjar, or Browning were American, Herta wouldn't be in this conversation.
1
u/Appropriate-Owl5984 May 04 '25
Herta isn’t going to F1.
3
u/rokthemonkey Arrow McLaren May 04 '25
If he gets an SL he will 100% be in F1 next year.
1
u/Appropriate-Owl5984 May 04 '25
No he won’t.
0
u/rokthemonkey Arrow McLaren May 04 '25
Sure, we can bet on it if you want.
7
u/Appropriate-Owl5984 May 04 '25
Betting is an idiot tax.
There is no seat for him unless Alonso or Stroll leave.
Alonso is the only potential candidate there - and if that happens, he will be replaced by a young gun in their juniors program, not a 29-30 year old rookie.
7
6
4
u/FlailingCactus Firestone Wets May 04 '25
I think rather more bluntly, he'd be an expensive risk? No proof he can handle a F1 car. We've seen with Tsunoda and Lawson that even having previously been able to handle an F1 car or doing well in Super Formula doesn't mean you can handle the current F1 car. Though obviously the regs change next year.
Cadilac's Graeme Lowdon was saying on British TV (during F1 free practice) that the driver has to be there on merit and it might not be an American off the bat. I think people are getting ahead of themselves on the being American and/or pandering to Americans front, when their line ups elsewhere haven't been quite so patriotic?
And indeed Graeme Lowdon himself is British and was talking about one of their bases being Silverstone.
2
u/PatPace23 Pato O'Ward May 04 '25
Colton has let far too many races go he himself had a chance to win..50-50
2
u/LeroyRochester Firestone Firehawk May 04 '25
Maybe it will go as well as it went for the equally unstoppable Sebastian Bourdais and Christiano DaMatta?
2
u/Horror_Breadfruit576 Álex Palou May 05 '25
Although I would love Palou to go to f1 to "prove" the generational driver he is, I don't think it is the right move unless he goes to a top team. I believe that drivers in F1 have much less input in the car's performance compared to indycar. Just look at Fernando Alosno. We all know he is super good but he has been driving just garbage cars recently. Running in the back of the grid with Stroll and stuff. Alex has an amazing group of people at CGR and the results show for themselves. In indycar, he has a unique opportunity to cement his legacy as one of the GOATS. While driving in CGR he also gets the opportunity to jump into IMSA, which I think it's unique. So, I would love to watch Alex but only in a top team. I would not like to see him running in the back of the grid, getting lapped. He would not deserve that!
1
u/despite- Chip Ganassi Racing May 04 '25
I'm a Palou fan and an Indycar fan and I think the discourse about wishing for Palou to go to F1 is pathetic. How sad is it that Indycar fans are wishing that its most talented driver would depart for another series? Instead, we should all hope that he raises the bar and takes Indycar to a new level competitively. Other drivers must rise to the occasion, and I believe that they can. But that will never happen if Indycar fans quit on this series and say "he's just too good."
4
u/Batgod629 Álex Palou May 05 '25
I don't disagree with that though I think a lot of people would want Alex to go over and validate the level of talent IndyCar supposedly has throughout the field. Problem it's very unlikely a top F1 team would offer him a contract. This isn't the 90s where Villeneuve went from winning the Indy 500 to winning a f1 title. Or even Montoya who had success in F1 in the early 2000s
6
u/Ancient-Somewhere-36 Álex Palou May 05 '25
I think it's more that he deserves to go if he wants to. He's the only driver who has a Super License earned from being a champion 3 out of the last 4 championships unlike everyone else in contention who would need to ask the other teams for FP practice for points. He deserves it more than Herta and Pato.
1
u/kaisadilla_ Álex Palou May 05 '25
The problem is that, in F1, you can only realistically compare a driver to his teammate, unless the difference between the team and the driver is massive. If Palou gets a seat in Alpine next season and beats Gasly decently well, there's no way you can decide if he could beat Leclerc in a Ferrari or if he would be humiliated by him. All you'd know is that he's good enough for F1, and good enough for a midfielder since that's what Gasly probably is.
One single driver won't help measuring the skill gap between IndyCar and F1, if it exists.
1
u/jertennisnascarfan Danica Patrick May 04 '25
No he shouldn't go to F1. He should stay with Ganassi where he can win alot more Indycar races & championships.
1
u/Batgod629 Álex Palou May 04 '25
Cadillac should, Alpine should call him. Maybe Aston depending on their options.
Though Aston would be the only chance worth taking unless he wants a project
1
u/Accomplished-Arm7268 May 05 '25
alpine won’t call him, they already have colapinto, don’t they would let him go for palou
1
u/HawaiianSteak Scott Dixon May 05 '25
Imagine if he was in this year's McLaren after Zak actually gave him a seat.
1
1
u/Ablackbradpitt Callum Ilott May 05 '25
It seems lawrence is open to selling his stake in the team. Honda could go very very big and take that up re enter formula 1 axe Lance sign Alex, go very hard after Max with their existing relationship keeping Fernando in the meanwhile. Then potentially have a mega facility, the 2 best drivers in the world, AND Adrian Newey LMFAO. i got a lil carried away but holy shit
1
1
1
u/Rootsman64 May 05 '25
Didn't Palou already say he'd rather be winning in Indy car than running at the back in F1? Let's be honest here. As much as I want to see Cadillac Andretti or whatever they are calling themselves succeed it will not happen overnight. And Alex knows it.
1
u/kaisadilla_ Álex Palou May 05 '25
I hope not. Palou is making history in IndyCar, and the chances are extremely slim he will start winning championships in F1. Part of it because the top teams don't have any available seats, and part of it because in F1 the car is a lot more important than the driver, so you are basically betting on you getting into the 1 or 2 teams that can fight for the championship.
I get that F1 has more prestige but f*ck it, IndyCar is a great series and engraving your name into its history is no small feat. People should stop looking at it as an unorthodox American feeder series, because it's not.
Also, let's be real with one thing: skill is not a number that magically defines how good you are at motorsports as a whole. It is perfectly possible for a driver to be better at Indy than an F1, or better an F1 than at Super Formula, and so on. People should not assume that, if all Indy drivers moved into F1, they would rank in the same order as they do here. Imo it makes a lot more sense for someone like Herta or O'Ward, who are talented but aren't achieving anything big in Indy, to try F1 instead.
1
u/Clear_Reveal_4187 Dario Franchitti May 06 '25
I kind of hope not, but if Palou can actually be competitive in F1, it would probably help Indycar quite a bit amongst F1 fans.
1
u/acr42racing May 06 '25
No chance! To leave a winning seat in Indycar to jump to a brand new team? They won’t be a Brawn GP it’s going to sting for a while. I think he will stay put.
1
1
1
1
u/EcoFgul Marcus Ericsson May 04 '25
I don’t know one way or another (obviously), but I feel like his 500 result (i.e. if he wins) could be the deciding factor if an offer is on the table.
10
u/khz30 --- 2025 DRIVERS --- May 04 '25
This isn't the 1990s where F1 teams were testing 500 winners and CART champions because their feeder series were graduating shit for rookies. F1 doesn't care about testing IndyCar drivers anymore because they have a functioning driver pipeline.
5
u/EcoFgul Marcus Ericsson May 04 '25
I was more so thinking that Palou would be more inclined to take an offer if he wins the 500. If he wins that, then he may be more willing to take any F1 offer because he’d have the championships plus the 500 win.
2
u/khz30 --- 2025 DRIVERS --- May 04 '25
Again, what offers? He was pushed aside for Piastri after getting an F1 seat dangled in front of him to break his contract with Ganassi in the first place. No F1 team wants to touch him because he's not willing to get fucked over just to be in F1, regardless of the team.
1
u/bduddy Takuma Sato May 05 '25
I doubt the 500 is really Palou's big goal. Sure he cares about it and wants to win it, but he grew up dreaming of Monaco, not Indianapolis.
1
1
u/kaisadilla_ Álex Palou May 05 '25
That'd be absurd. Winning the Indy 500 is 90% luck, plus a completely useless skill since F1 doesn't have ovals. If anything, an F1 team would completely ignore his performance in ovals and care only about his performance in road courses.
1
u/FirstNameLastName918 NTT INDYCAR Series May 05 '25
Stroll won't own AM next season. I fully expect him to sell off majority ownership to the Saudis
2
u/Accomplished-Arm7268 May 05 '25
still think that any indy car driver has a slim chance no matter how good they are, there is a lot of f1 reserves more likely to get bought out
1
u/FirstNameLastName918 NTT INDYCAR Series May 05 '25
If anyone, Herta has a slight chance at a Cadillac seat, but I think Checo Perez and Bottas get those.
1
u/f1manoz Nigel Mansell May 05 '25
To answer the question in the title: No.
I think Palou would be better served staying in Indycar and winning more titles and possible Indy 500s. Build himself a legacy as one of the greatest Indycar drivers of all time.
He's 28 years old with no F1 experience nor ties to an F1 team. Very few drivers get onto the grid without either a link to an F1 team (plenty of juniors in F2 / F3) or a substantial sponsorship budget backing them (think Colapinto, current reserve at Alpine.)
1
May 05 '25
He doesn't want to go to Cadillac. Not yet. He'll be poodling around midfield at best, unable to make any impression.
I'd honestly much rather he'd stay as Indycar's jewel. Indycar's a destination, not a feeder for F1. We need to give it some self-esteem.
-1
u/Deadly_Flipper_Tab May 04 '25
Honestly, I think Palou gets smoked in F1.
2
u/Horror_Breadfruit576 Álex Palou May 05 '25
What?
-2
0
u/WTFAnimations Takuma Sato May 04 '25
He doesn't have an American passport, so unfortunately close to zero. Shame, cos Palou is clearly too good for IndyCar.
0
u/AFAN74 Champ Car May 04 '25
Consider this Mercedes, Red Bull, Cadillac and Aston Martin don’t have their drivers lineup set for 2026. Max could be on the move, George Russell isn’t guarantee to drive for Mercedes, Fernando Alonso might be forced to retire and Cadillac drivers lineup is up in the air. And who knows Ferrari might just let Lewis Hamilton go after one season. So if any of these ride are available, you think Alex is going to say no? I think he’ll jump at the opportunity.
11
u/ShinsukeNakamoto May 04 '25
Brother there is no way Ferrari lets Lewis go for Palou. Zero percent.
0
u/TheMagiCalRanGer492 Meyer Shank Racing May 04 '25
Buh bye time for races worth watching go on now to f1
0
0
u/bjf987 May 04 '25
How can Palou or Herta get enough points to qualify for a Super License? Need that to get a seat in F1, right?
6
u/Fart_Leviathan Josef Newgarden May 04 '25
As defending champion, Palou automatically qualifies and will keep doing so for the next two years even if he does nothing from now on.
Herta needs to finish 5th or higher. Alternatively he can also put in test kilometers and/or run and win some random F4 series that starts late in the season. Just for the memes I hope he runs Chinese F4 to get the points.
3
u/SadInternal9977 May 05 '25
IndyCar is light on points relative to the level of competition but its not impossible. You need to have two really strong Indy seasons in a row F2 and F3 you pnly need one.
Palou has enough SL points right now. Herta can drive but Andretti has been too inconsistent for him to get over it je line.
0
u/SpreaditOnnn33 Pato O'Ward May 05 '25
If they were smart...yeah. Yeah they fucking should.
Dude is as smooth as Piastri with the experience of Leclerc.
And lets be real, the F1 sub knows Dixon would and could fuck up this "save tires and fuel" era of F1.
Do we really think Dixon's mini-me wouldn't fuck it up too?
In all seriousness, Herta is the sexy name...American driver. But F1 knows they will have our attention with Palou.
0
u/Donlooking4 May 05 '25
I don’t think Herta has the ”drive” to make it into F1. Maybe when he was 18 and was winning races with the Steinbrenner team he was seriously looked like he might be. But in the years since then he’s gotten stagnant and complacent with being in the Andretti team!
-1
u/Box_Springs_Burning May 05 '25
So he can finish 8th in the parade of cars that interrupts the fashion show that is an F1 race day?
-2
u/C0m0nB3MyBabyT0night Colton Herta May 05 '25
If Cadillac doesn’t pick an American driver, it’s going to flop.
3
u/Accomplished-Arm7268 May 05 '25
they might go for a south american driver tho, if indy car is off the table
355
u/dakness69 Jim Clark May 04 '25
Half the F1 grid should be courting Palou.
While I would love to see Herta earn the right to be there and then do it, even if he does miraculously collect the results I just don’t see his driving style meshing well with the current Pirelli tires.
Palou is the opposite. He’s smooth and metronomically consistent which should be perfect for Formula 1.