Alex Palou comes clean on chances of being an F1 driver

Alex Palou's tale with F1 and IndyCar has remained an interesting one. He initially signed with McLaren for the 2023 IndyCar campaign but backed out after seeing the F1 road leading to a dead end and is now in a legal battle with the British team for these antics. However, witnessing how the doors to get into F1 are closing with time, he shared about how he does not envision getting into the European championship anymore.

The Spaniard is the reigning IndyCar champion and leads the 2025 drivers' standings with a 39-point lead after just two rounds. This has set him up for possibly getting another IndyCar title under his belt, but his one dream of becoming an F1 driver remains unfulfilled to this day.

Alex Palou made his F1 Grand Prix debut in 2022 with McLaren and was on cloud nine, seeing the road to the elusive championship opening up for him. However, with the Woking-based squad signing on Oscar Piastri, the Spaniard refused to join the Arrow McLaren outfit and looked for other routes to the F1 grid.

However, these routes have seemingly dried up and no longer lead him to a possible F1 drive. Accepting that the clouds have covered up his F1 dream, Palou wrote in his column at Soy Motor about how he does not envision moving to the European championship and wants to build a bigger empire in the United States:

"There's a lot of talk on social media, but I think we've perhaps already passed the stage of trying to get a foothold in Formula 1. It didn't work out...The truth is, there's nothing. There isn't any conversation, nor has there ever been."

"Perhaps the good results I'm having in IndyCar would have meant a little more than they do now if I had had them eight years ago, when I was 20. What I know is that I'm very happy in the United States and in IndyCar. I can't complain about anything, and I don't lack anything."

Meanwhile, Alex Palou has had a great start to the 2025 championship after claiming two race victories from the two race weekends.

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Alex Palou reveals the biggest threats towards his championship bid

Alex Palou after winning the INDYCAR Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg - Source: Getty

Though Alex Palou has built up a nice cushion, the 28-year-old still has to traverse through 15 more rounds of racing. This makes his 39-point lead seem tiny in comparison to the race weekends left to explore, and any rival could bag in on the opportunity where the Spaniard puts his foot wrong.

Palou is aware of this fact and revealed the potential threats for the top spot in the championship fight in his column, and wrote:

"It's still too early to know what the year will be like, but my feeling is that McLaren has taken a step forward. The Penske team is also as competitive as ever... Andretti is Andretti, and then there's Scott Dixon, who's on the same team as me and who doesn't let up."

The next race in the IndyCar calendar will set off on April 13 at Long Beach, a track where Alex Palou secured a podium at the previous edition and would like to build upon the momentum in the early phase of the season.