After Alex Palou’s title-clinching win at the Portland Grand Prix, Chip Ganassi was asked whether the now two-times champion will return to race for his team in 2024.
“Alex Palou is going to be in our car, I can tell you that for sure.” Ganassi replied confidently.“He’s part of our team. We couldn’t be more happy about that. He likes to win, he likes to be at the front.”
“We noticed that with his first race win at Barber three years ago. We knew the guy was special.”
It’s a statement that wouldn’t have seemed possible even a month ago, let alone in the immediate aftermath of an explosive contract controversy between Palou, Ganassi, and his prospective new employer McLaren.
It was a year-long saga that began when Palou took to social media to publicly refute quotes published in his name, refuse a contract extension with Ganassi, then sign a pre-contract with McLaren with the presumption of allowing him an opportunity to race in Formula 1. A lawsuit filed by Ganassi against his driver followed, which was later settled out of court. Palou stayed on board with Ganassi for 2023, but the feeling throughout most of Palou’s third season at Ganassi was that he was going to join McLaren the following year.
But suddenly, on the eve of last month’s race at Indianapolis, Palou broke his agreement with McLaren. He also split from his agency Monaco Increase Management, while Ganassi took McLaren CEO Zak Brown to task in a scathing public statement.
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Palou’s agreement with McLaren – and even the breaking of said agreement – was always speculated to have been with his long-harboured Formula 1 aspirations in mind. As a McLaren F1 reserve driver, Palou made an FP1 appearance at the 2022 United States Grand Prix and drove earlier cars several times under F1’s Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) rules after the conclusion of last year’s IndyCar season.
This summer, F1 transfer market rumours linked Palou to midfield constructors such as Williams and AlphaTauri. Lando Norris is contracted to remain at McLaren until the end of 2025 while his rookie team mate Oscar Piastri (who went through a similar contract dispute of his own with McLaren, who prevailed on that occasion) has impressed and is expected to be retained.
In the words of the two-time champion himself, Palou seems more than content with building a legacy in IndyCar as a future legend at this stage in his career.
“I said it many times that [Formula 1] was not my full focus,” Palou said after Sunday’s victory. “Then, when an opportunity came, I had to go for it, I felt.
“At the same time I know I’m not 21 or 19. I’m already 26, which is good. I’m not saying I’m old, but I mean, it’s not that I’m super young. Next year I’ll be 27.
“If an opportunity comes in the future, which is like really, really small chances, I’ll think about it for sure, 100 percent.
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“But I’m happy, honestly. As long as I keep on winning championships and races, or battling for championships, I think I’ll have a great career.”
Unless Palou has yet another sudden change of heart, he seems committed to winning more races and championships with Ganassi. And that’s good news for IndyCar and its fans – even the ones who’ve said they no longer like or care for Palou after the latest contract dispute with McLaren.
If Palou never gets that F1 opportunity it would leave many wondering ‘what could have been’. No driver has ever made the step to F1 directly out of a major American open-wheel championship since Sebastien Bourdais in 2008 – and Palou’s IndyCar championships, combined with his previous experience racing single-seaters in Europe and Japan, would make him as fit and proper of an F1 candidate as any that have come along in recent years.
This mutual commitment doesn’t mean Palou’s contractual woes are over, as he now faces legal action from McLaren Racing and its IndyCar team (as separate entities) who are reportedly seeking hefty damages.
Palou responded to these lawsuits in part by saying that he would one day write a tell-all book about the wrangling for his racing future, and he brought that up again during Sunday’s post-race press conference. “Obviously after Laguna [Seca] I will try and speak a little bit more, but I’m going to enjoy as much as possible the win from today, the championship, and then we’ll see,” Palou said.
“I started actually my first page on the book, so that thing is going well! I don’t really have anything else to say now. There’s no news. There’s nothing else I could tell you now that is exciting or anything. But I will.”
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IndyCar
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asd
5th September 2023, 18:26
Gotta love this guy! He takes pride in himself and isn’t satisfied scrambling for miserable F1 bread crumbs.
I hope motorsport fans in Spain appreciate him.
Imbrilerm
6th September 2023, 8:15
Motorsport fans in Spain do not know at all about him, and that’s because one single reason: the Spanish press is so obsessed with Alonso (distorting all kinds of news in order to leave him as a mere mortal who defeated the elements and the gods to be the greatest driver of all time, being chased by the evil British—you’d expect this to be a mere joke, but here’s the catch: it isn’t, that’s the low standard Spanish press has come to after 2007) that they neglect everything else. And yes, this includes Sainz unless he gets pole positions or podium places (which then they also build a similar story of him defeating the evil Italians, the lawless ma-FIA, the wrongdoers British, thanks to being the sole son of God).
It’s very sad, but that’s how things are in a country with such a miserable press. They generate zealots, not real fans.
Free_B
5th September 2023, 19:43
Query: why would anyone leave multi-championship-winning level in a feeder series to join an F1 team without even the assurance of a drive?! What I don’t know is whether the Palou situation was before or after they attempted to sign Piastri
Jeanrien (@jeanrien)
6th September 2023, 13:31
Ask Jonathan Rea.
The more championship or races Palou wins, the less likely he is too settle for backmarker team, making the move as unlikely. Not sure I’d consider Indycar as a feeder to F1 given the point system and history. That’s another factor for Palou not knowing how he can expect to fare in opposition to F2 guys that have various examples.
The later example of de Vries won’t encourage any externals or teams to go a different route I’m afraid.
The current gen of F1 cars require experience, not many drivers have been quick out of the box lately. That’s likely to extend some drivers passed their prime and block the entrance of drivers from other series (and probably women as well given they are likely to take more time going through feeder series).
Justin (@vivagilles27)
5th September 2023, 21:52
I’m sure his teammate Scott Dixon is adding a lot of insight with his F1 dreams never materializing. I’m sure quality of life is also a factor with a much shorter season, relative team parity, and certainly way time spent traveling. I’d rather be competitive, win championships, and have a longer off-season than be fighting for 10th place every week in F1…..
Scott (@scott6428)
5th September 2023, 22:30
It feels like Zak has promised a shot at F1 to several drivers. Palou just came to realise that its unlikely to happen for him.
Zann (@zann)
5th September 2023, 22:51
It sounds like his management agency set him up for a crap deal that didn’t guarantee an F1 drive, with the fat upfront payment they’d be taking a slice of.
They’d all swap Indy for F1 in a heartbeat wouldn’t they, there’s just less prestige in a spec series. Perhaps Indycars should smell the coffee and start an Indy X or something that has prototypes and engineering.
Scott (@scott6428)
6th September 2023, 15:14
Spec series tell us who the best drivers are, F1 one shows us who
The best enginers are generally speaking. Yes some engineering is done in indycar :) but a series where one car wins all the races isnt about the best drivers. Imo
Zann (@zann)
6th September 2023, 17:39
But this particular argument is about who’s the best in the world. The best driver in the world is going to end up in the highest status series isn’t he, that’s why more or less everybody thinks it’s Max or possibly Lewis and not Alex. Alex would have loved to get into F1 to show it’s him! But he’s stuck, shame for him, so he can only show he’s the best in Indycars.
And to make things worse, F1 teams don’t think winning in Indycars means they’d be great in F1, so there isn’t much of a way into F1 from there. It’s all F2 and its puny little 620 hp, and that’s quite like Indy in fact.
lavachemist
6th September 2023, 4:43
Zak Brown has a lot of empty promises. He dangles an F1 carrot in front of his INDYCAR drivers, but doesn’t seem to really have any intention of following through. O’Ward gets the same treatment.
S
6th September 2023, 6:47
No, they wouldn’t. They don’t.
Truth is that a lot of drivers simply aren’t interested in F1 as a sporting and driver’s competition.
Not a lot of prestige in F1 when the best car most drivers will ever get is a mid-fielder.
Zann (@zann)
6th September 2023, 12:55
Truth Social I presume :) I mean the whole fuss is about this.
Don
6th September 2023, 15:35
He’s making mid pack F1 money with his new contract, and has an opportunity to make another $4.5 million by winning Indy ($3.5M) and the Championship again ($1+M). A no brainer to have opportunities to win consistently and possibly the biggest race in the world, rather than languish at the back of the grid with a crap car in F1.