Williams boss James Vowles revealed that IndyCar sensation Alex Palou was on his list of candidates for F1 2025.

However, suggesting Palou would command a salary of $5 million+, Vowles also highlighted the required F1 testing time he would need as an additional stumbling block, while Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur described the Spaniard as a driver “forgotten” in Formula 1 after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Alex Palou: Too expensive for an F1 rookie?

Palou has established himself as an IndyCar icon, and the three-time champion recently ticked off another milestone by winning the flagship Indianapolis 500 event for the first time, claiming victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May.

The Spaniard started in single-seaters on the junior ladder to Formula 1 with limited success, but transformed his career after switching to IndyCar, where he now chases a fourth title after winning five of the opening seven rounds in 2025.

Such form has once more sparked speculation over whether Formula 1 could be in Palou’s future, and Vowles – team principal at Williams – revealed to Auto Motor und Sport that Palou was on their radar, but there were clear sticking points.

“Palou is super-fast,” said Vowles. “We had him on our list. But there are two problems.

“With his track record, he wouldn’t be a cheap starter. I reckon he plays in the price range beyond five million dollars.

“And, he wouldn’t be helped by a test or a Friday training session.

“Palou would have to go through the same programme as an [Kimi] Antonelli or [Oliver] Bearman. They have completed up to 10,000 kilometres in old Formula 1 cars. That means he would have to take a year off and sacrifice himself completely to preparation. I can hardly imagine that he would want to do that given his status.”

After one win in two GP3 seasons with Campos, Palou finished seventh in the 2018 European Formula 3 Championship with Hitech, before transitioning to Super Formula in Japan and then IndyCar.

Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur believes Palou was limited by his machinery in his F3 campaign, and then got unlucky again when the Covid pandemic led to him being “forgotten” in the Formula 1 paddock, despite capturing his first IndyCar title in 2021.

“Palou was in the wrong team in Formula 3. He couldn’t shine there,” Vasseur claimed.

“He is probably an example of the fact that results in a junior formula do not necessarily indicate how he will develop later in really fast cars.

“He switched to IndyCar. Then came Covid, and he was forgotten here with us.”

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Palou had made it clear recently that a switch to Formula 1 is not of interest, as he continues to strengthen his bid for a fourth IndyCar title.

And his compatriot – two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso – can well imagine that there is no F1-shaped void for Palou.

“I know that most of the drivers, we dream about a Formula 1 seat and having a career here, but he had the opportunity in IndyCar, and he maximised every single day there,” Alonso told the media, including PlanetF1.com.

“He’s a legend in the IndyCar, and he will be a legend always in IndyCar.

“So I think he’s not missing Formula 1. And I’m very happy for him, because he’s a very, very talented driver.

“We are just following him from here with a lot of respect.”

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