When Alex Palou crossed the Yard of Bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to become Spain’s first Indy 500 winner, eyebrows raised. Surely, Formula 1 is about to come calling.

But if you ask the three-time IndyCar champion, he’ll deny it. Formula 1 is the ‘total opposite’ of the kind of racing he wants to do — so don’t expect him in Europe any time soon.

Spanish racers praise Alex Palou for Indy 500 win

Just a few hours after the chequered flag flew at the Monaco Grand Prix, the 109th running of the Indy 500 went green in a contentious race that ultimately saw Spanish driver Alex Palou take victory.

Palou has won three IndyCar championships, but as a driver coming over to the United States from Europe, his lack of familiarity with ovals meant that he had yet to master that specific discipline.

At Indianapolis, Palou made history by taking his first oval win, by being the first Spanish racer to win the iconic 500-mile event, and by winning five of the first six races of the season. ‘Dominant’ almost feels inadequate in describing the Chip Ganassi Racing driver’s year.

There’s no doubt that Palou is easily the greatest open-wheel driver in America right now, and that has plenty of people wondering how he might perform in a discipline like Formula 1.

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Palou was the talk of the town in the build-up to Formula 1’s Spanish Grand Prix, with his fellow countrymen Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso asked to comment on his performance and how they think he might perform in Formula 1.

“I think someone that is capable of winning in Indy — Indy 500 — at least, I don’t know, at some point should be given the chance to show what he can do in Formula 1,” Williams driver Carlos Sainz said to the media, including PlanetF1.com, during the pre-event press conference.

“And if he’s quick enough in Formula 1, then he should be welcome in Formula 1.”

Sainz should know; he and Palou were teammates once, back in their foundational stages of racing.

“I always rated very highly Alex because I was his teammate in Cadet, and he was very quick in Cadet karting,” Sainz said with a laugh.

“But honestly speaking, what he’s doing in America is something really admirable, I think, to dominate Indy the way he’s dominating — you have to be very good at what he’s doing.

“Then Formula 1 is a completely different discipline, different world, but I don’t have anything else than respect and admiration for what Alex is doing in Indy.”

The elder Spaniard on the F1 grid, Fernando Alonso, also had nothing but praise for Palou.

“I mean, great, great for Spain, first of all,” said the driver who contested the 2017 and 2020 Indy 500s.

“Great for him to have the Indy 500 now after winning the series in the IndyCar for a few consecutive seasons, and now leading the championship as well. He’s doing great out there.

“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 maximized every single day there.

“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 and you know, as a fan because I was watching on Sunday the race and just hoping that he will finally make it, and he did.”

Does F1 follow an Indy 500 win for Alex Palou?

Alonso and Sainz aren’t the only people considering how Alex Palou would perform within the world of Formula 1. Fans, pundits, and other drivers have also raised the question.

But Palou denies that Formula 1 is back on his radar.

“The fun part of being a racecar driver isn’t being famous,” Palou said, as reported by IndyStar, which went on to note his sense of anonymity – Palou joined American reporters in seeking out Spanish reports of his victory, which were hard to find.

When asked if he’ll take the BorgWarner trophy to Barcelona, he replied, “I don’t know if there would be much people there, unfortunately.” And when asked if he was as popular in Spain as drivers like Alonso and Sainz, his answer was a polite “no.”

It was the same response when quizzed as to whether he’d now look to make a move to F1 after ticking the 500 off his bucket list.

“I don’t want to leave now,” he said.

“Even if they say, ‘No, don’t worry, you can come back in one or two years, what if suddenly everyone is here and I’m never able to catch back up to them?

“And [F1] wasn’t in my mind last year, and it’s not in my mind this year. It’s getting less and less and less every day, and with this, it’s like, ‘No, I want to get another [Indy 500 victory].’

“[F1] is not calling me anymore. I still follow it. It’s a huge series. It’s amazing. I’m a big fan, but I don’t think they’re having as much fun as I’m having here.

“I don’t see people celebrating with their wives and their kids as much as we do.

“I don’t see them hanging in the bus lot or having dinner with their mechanics.

“I only enjoy driving and having fun and being with my people, so I think [F1] is the total opposite.”

As he put it later: “There’s not many [F1] seats that I’d want to be in, compared to the No. 10 [Chip Ganassi Racing Honda] car right now. It’s pretty tough to beat.”

There was indeed a period of time where Palou was in the F1 hunt — and it put him in legal trouble.

Back in 2022, CGR announced that Palou would be driving for the team the following year in IndyCar — something that Palou immediately denied. He had instead inked a deal with McLaren that would have seen him serve as an F1 reserve driver, with the aim of one day securing an F1 race seat.

It turned out to be quite the contractual fiasco; Palou’s manager at the time had effectively tied him to two teams, and it required a court case to determine that the Spaniard was required to serve out his time at CGR. In return, McLaren sued Palou for over $30 million in damages.

Since then, his name has been casually linked to the incoming Cadillac F1 program thanks in large part to his former CGR-founded links to Cadillac’s endurance racing programs. However, that has amounted to little more than speculation.

For now, Palou is ready to head off to Detroit, where he’ll continue his championship charge this weekend.

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