Lando Norris
McLaren
Mercedes
Red Bull
Ferrari
Williams
Racing Bulls
Aston Martin
Haas
Alpine
Alex Palou is perhaps the biggest ‘what if’ in Formula 1, given the career he has had, after having numerous opportunities to join the grid.
The Spaniard had followed the path to F1 with GP3, now Formula 3, and Formula 2, but he could not perform on the European stage. After spending 2019 in Super Formula, where he finished third, he moved to IndyCar.
Palou won the title in his sophomore year in 2021, which caught the attention of the F1 paddock, namely McLaren, who signed him to their Testing of Previous Cars programme. In 2023, he was announced as a reserve driver for the team alongside Oscar Piastri.
Who is one driver that has never raced in Formula 1 that you’d like to see on the grid?
Of course, the Aussie went on to get a full-time seat in 2024, but Will Buxton says Palou is just as good as Piastri. The Spaniard was due to race for McLaren’s IndyCar team that same year, but he ended up staying with Chip Ganassi Racing.
Palou believed that he would get an F1 seat and that McLaren gave him false promises. The matter went to court in 2025, with a final verdict yet to be made.
Alex Palou says McLaren ‘wouldn’t be the same’ if he came to Formula 1
At the time Palou was with McLaren, the team were gradually building back to the front of the grid. In 2024, they won their first constructors’ championship in 26 years and won the double in 2025, with Lando Norris grabbing his first F1 title over Max Verstappen.
It begs the question of what Palou could have achieved had things worked out differently and he was racing for McLaren in F1. But the 29-year-old has suggested that he would not have been a world champion as the team ‘wouldn’t be the same’.
When asked what could have been had he signed with McLaren, Palou told SoyMotor: “If I had wheels, I’d be a bicycle right now!
“Hey, who knows? We don’t know. Well, surely if I had been there, the car wouldn’t be as good, or it would be better, but it wouldn’t be the same. That’s for sure.
“It wouldn’t be the same and surely the staff wouldn’t be the same because maybe I wouldn’t have liked an engineer, or I would have loved an engineer, and they wouldn’t have changed him and that car wouldn’t be the same.
“So you never know. Even if I were in the same place, I might not have performed at the same level as I have now because of everything I’ve been through. So I wouldn’t change anything.”
READ MORE: All you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine
Alex Palou is not focused on coming to F1 amid 2026 links
Amidst the McLaren saga, Palou has shown utter dominance in IndyCar. He has won the last three championships, winning in 2025 before the season finale.
He also won the Indy 500 for the first time and broke his winless streak on ovals. His exceptional form in IndyCar has, unsurprisingly, seen him being linked with a move to F1 again.
Are we entering another era of Mercedes engine domination?
Red Bull were linked with Palou in 2025 as they weighed up their options to replace Yuki Tsunoda. Jacques Villeneuve even suggested Palou for Racing Bulls, but neither move materialised.
Given the connections to IndyCar, David Croft would love to see Palou at Cadillac in the future. But the Spaniard has reiterated that he is not focused on joining the F1 grid.
He was set on getting into the sport in the past, but with recent developments and his impressive results in North America, F1 is no longer his priority.
Receive exclusive F1 news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
