Alex Palou (San Antonio Vilamajor, Barcelona1997) faces a year 2023 full of work, with the aim of winning again in the Indyfight for the Indianapolis 500 and his performance as reserve pilot of McLaren in F1. But the task does not intimidate the Spaniard, who does not close doors in any category. He assures that he will try to bring knowledge of the F1 to the North American single-seater championship and in the very long term does not rule out resistance, where he already made his first steps in 2022 in the 24 Hours of Daytona. He talks about all this with AS.
-How do you face the year 2023 divided between Indy and your reserve role in McLaren F1?
-With a lot of work, that’s for sure. But wanting a new challenge and having the opportunity to learn from both worlds. And try to win a new Indy championship, the 500 (Indianapolis Miles), or at least fight for it, and then when the Indy season is over I will be more involved in the McLaren team.
-So, the first part of the year 100% Indy
-Yeah. I will be following everything that happens in McLaren and F1. But the real work there is when there is no Indy race.
– Isn’t so much exchange of category and information between the two disciplines a handicap?
-No not at all. In the end it’s good. In Indy we handle information that in F1 is about ten times more. They have a much larger budget, many more people… And it helps me to know even the level of detail they go to work on. And then I can try to implement certain things in Indy. Obviously, I can’t get to Ganassi saying ‘look, we have to work like this’, because there aren’t enough people, but from the little I’ve been with McLaren I’ve learned a lot.
-What kind of knowledge can you transfer from F1 to Indy?
-Especially the way of working. Both engineering and piloting. Analyze driving well and ultimately use less time to draw better conclusions.
-Focusing on Indy, how do you feel when Indy legends Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon or Mario Andretti shower you with praise after only three seasons there?
They are people that I have grown up watching. When I started watching Indy, Dixon was already winning. (six titles)Franchitti was winning (four titles)Andretti was already a legend… Now I not only work with them, but it is very special for me to know how they talk about me.
-Now that the contractual situation with Ganassi has stabilized, did those problems affect your performance? He only managed one win in his title defense and made it to the end of the season…
-You never know. From my point of view, no. But if you look at it from the outside, it may be so. Obviously it was tough, I had my head not only in the races, I have to be honest. Although I don’t think it affected that much. At times we were unlucky. For example, we had to change the chassis just before Laguna Seca, because we saw that it didn’t give the same parameters as at the beginning of the season… But above all I know that all that didn’t help. I gave everything I had and we only got one win. Hopefully in 2023 we will be stronger without thinking about those things. In the end, it all boils down to the fact that it turned out well. We continue with Ganassi at Indy and we have been able to be in three tests with MCLaren in F1.
-How long is your contract with Ganassi?
-One more season.
-And then…
-We’ll see. That I have learned (laughs). I’m not going to talk about the future until I’m 200% sure.
-But would you like to continue being an important man in Indy or take the step to F1?
-We have already taken that step of going there and testing an F1. And if there is a good opportunity that interests us, with good conditions, everyone would go, of course.
-You are also building a career as an all-terrain driver: Japan Super Formula, Indy, Formula 1, Daytona 24 Hours… Do you see resistance as a long-term option?
I love resistance. It is an incredible modality. Obviously I would not like to focus on it now. I think it’s something you can do at 35 years old and you have 10 more years of your career ahead of just endurance, there’s always time for that. Already in 2022 I did Daytona, with a bit of bad luck, we were doing very well. I tried again for this 2023, but with the category changes I couldn’t combine everything. But it’s okay, we’ll try in the future. I love resistance, especially how it is lived among the drivers sharing and taking care of a car that has to last a day. It’s a very nice mentality.
-The last one and with the maximum possible sincerity. They give you a choice, a new Indy title or the Indianapolis 500, which one and why?
-Right now I would have to think about it, but I think I would take 500. I already have a championship. Having two championships is difficult, but having a championship and 500 in three years would be incredible. Also because of how close we have been other times.