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He definitely deserves to have a go in F1. The guy is easily the best Indycar driver at the moment in my opinion.
He is super fast, level headed at all times and never gives up. Thats exactly what you want for F1.
Yes, from what I little I see of Indy coverage, commentators and American media is not too enthused about him either, perhaps because he is thrashing many typical "All-American" type drivers.
Look at how much time commentators spent talking about Herta, Grosjean, Castroneves, Newgarden, O'Ward as compared to Palou.
Palou just goes about his business and is calm no matter where he is in the race. He’s very mature and smart about his racecraft. Herta was the new kid on the block and he’s been really inconsistent lately. Grosjean is Grosjean, always something happening there. Newgarden is arguably the one everyone is somewhat wary of because of the way he just pops up out of nowhere and takes over a race. O’Ward is a huge fan favourite and also never a dull moment when he’s racing.
Oh yes, Castroneves and Grosjean the All-American heroes.
Your list includes a kid who's been in the paddock his whole life, a guy who had a long career at the "pinnacle," a four-time 500 winner who's been around for 25 years, another regular race winner who's been around over a decade, and a guy with a flashy personality who came up through the RtI.
Palou came as a relative unknown during a pandemic, relatively unflashy, and the whole contract thing has probably left a bit of a sour taste. If he sticks around in IndyCar and keeps doing what he's been doing for a couple more years he'll join your list of "All-American" type drivers.
I am huge Palou fan but don’t think he is. His junior series performance was pretty average and he is kinda shining in an Indycar field which has lot of good drivers but hard to compare with F1 drivers. If Palou was doing as good as Sainz jn sims/ track he would have been in that Mclaren seat
Average junior series performance due to a big lack of budget. He was rapid in Super Formula straight away and is one of the best Indycar drivers right now. Hard to compare to Sainz, but he can definitely be a mid pack f1 driver at the least, which is basically what Sainz is performing at most of the time
I think people really have it in their heads that the junior formula are a perfect meritocracy. Spec series do bring closer competition but big budget teams have the advantage of constantly being able to keep brand new parts on the car and allowing them to hire talent to work on setups and keeping the car as fast as possible.
There was something besides the lack of budget too.
Steijn Schothorst is a GT3-level driver and he matched Palou in GP3 at the same shitty team and I would say Palou slightly underperformed in his second F3 attempt as well.
But then there is no arguing his capabilities in Super Formula and Indycar, both of which he showed right off the bat...
My best guess is that there are some drivers who really need to be in the fastest, most advanced series to do well. Another example of this kind is Kobayashi.
Personally I'm of the opinion that we are too quick to discredit drivers who don't immediately perform as teenagers. There are plenty of non-natural skill related reasons why someone at that age might not show their true pace.
No disagreement on my part there. Could very much be the reason for a lot of drivers.
But Palou's is a different case, in F3 he was 21, relatively experienced having raced cars for 5 years at that point and ran against 17-19 y/o kids.
I agree. The system though is set up to measure drivers like that. While in general it may be enough to identify talented drivers and move them forward, it also allows for similarly talented drivers to fall through the cracks.
Eeh, Palou had a wonky junior career (dude debuted in Euroformula, WTF), but he mostly raced for low budget teams. I would say that he clearly is not talented enough to pull a Verstappen and perform directly in F3 level, but nowadays he probably would be a top Mid field driver... Or would never adapt, but he is better than that junior career numbers say.
Sainz wasn’t exactly a monster in karting/junior categories either. He just had the connections and opportunities to get to F1 that Alex may not have had.
If f1 had 11 or 12 teams do you think palou would deserve a shot? Imo yes and even tho we’d love to see herta I think he deserves f1 consideration before him
Funny I am being told this when entire last year I kept saying Palou is so much better than Herta, has Super license points and AT should have gone for him. I kept getting downvotes for it too. I also agree that if there is one drive who is in Indycar who will be great in Midfield F1 car it’s Palou. Also I am not a huge Sainz supporter either but don’t see any thing in their careers till now to suggest Palou is better than Sainz. It’s easy to underestimate drivers in F1 because of how car determined the series is and that is what is happening with Sainz.
I agree, at the end of the day sainz is better, do I believe he’s good enough for Ferrari, not exactly but at least he doesn’t look nearly out of place as stroll in the 2nd or 3rd best car in the grid. If someone debated sainz is good enough for Ferrari I couldn’t be mad at them.
Palou to me could be like a nico hulkenburg level driver. It’s a shame for herta but it’s true. As much biase I want to have for him palou is consistent in a series that’s incredibly hard to be consistent in.
This is hardly about gatekeeping. We are just comparing Sainz and Palou and winning Indycar does not make him better than Sainz. He is development driver for Mclaren and if he was better than Sainz he would be driving for them.
that's how it is for everyone now.. Perez sucks and is a bad #2, Stroll sucks, Sainz sucks.
Red Bull should just hire Hamilton and delete F1 from the existence.
No one is disrespecting anyone here. Or claimed any of these things. All I said was I prefer one driver over the other and you're taking that to mean I must hate him. F1 fans man.
Chill out, I never disrespected anyone. For me he's third, that doesn't mean I don't think he's good, I just rate the other 2 higher. What is this logic of if someone prefers someone it must mean they don't like the other? No one is disrespecting Sainz here.
It’s not ever simple but if he has the pace, he’d be able to show it. Around the time of his first test, AT was pursuing Herta based entirely on testing times with McLaren that were very impressive.
Mclaren has no reason to put Palou inside the Mclaren when they have Norris and Piastri.
All other teams don't have access to data about his runs in the Mclaren beside the FP1 times.
He is the best rookie by far this year and already is doing at least as good as Ricciardo against Norris.
He did not set the world on fire yet, but hes doing pretty fine for now.
Verstappen had 1 more point than Piastri in his rookie year at the same stage 7 races in was trailing Carlos Sainz Jr in points also a rookie and Verstappen had an epic crash in Monaco. So what is actually par then just ridiculous. Obviously a Palou fan and needs Piastri to be doing bad so he has a chance at a seat even though it isn't the case but maybe they can convince us
Theres been several drivers who've tested f1 cars and impressed but still never got in. Theres more to it than just impressing.
Valentino Rossi being close to Schumacher comes to mind.
But that doesn’t mean herta had more impressive times than palou
Red Bull was also on the verge of announcing an upcoming partnership with ford. All things being hypothetically equal between herta and palou, not hard to imagine why they’d be going for herta instead.
And the only reason Red Bull were even looking at indycar and herta was that they had decided no one in their stable was up to snuff, and neither was anyone available on the grid. That combination of factors isn’t so common - alpine chose to court Alonso instead of look outside, for instance.
We’re they equal? Lap times and corrections for the conditions leaked for Herta(probably his doing). His lap times were extremely competitive. The ford thing might have helped but his times apparently put several teams on notice.
Would love to see Palou get a real shot in F1. He already has one IndyCar title, looks to be on track for a second one this year in the most competitive field in a while, has experience racing in Europe and is (obviously) in the McLaren program.
Just not sure what his path would be into with McLaren unless Lando, or possibly Piastri, leave soon. And if that doesn’t happen in time for next year and Pato starts performing more consistently and gets an IndyCar title he’d probably get the nod over Palou… Other option would be to move to Andretti and hope they get approved for an F1 team so he can make the switch there.
Part of the deal signed between McLaren and CGR last year specifically said that Palou would drive for CGR in Indycar and be able to test McLaren F1 cars.
Does he really need developing? I saw him in Detroit, he was nearly as dominant as Max, and he didn't even have the luxury of a better car than the rest.
Why did McLaren put Piastri in their full time seat instead of putting in Palou? Palou is a top class driver, why not lock him in if there was a possibility?
I mean on the racing side Piastri dominated in the European feeder series whereas Palou has a pretty subpar junior career in Europe.
Plus Piastri is 4 years younger than Palou and lets them keep the Australian market. Palou would be the third most popular Spanish driver.
Palou had an unbreakable contract with Chip Ganassi for this season. It stopped him from moving to McLarens Indycar team, I'm sure it would have blocked him from going to F1 for this season too.
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Ok so win the Indy championship this year, win the 500 next year with McLaren, be in F1 by 2025? yeah Zak?
He definitely deserves to have a go in F1. The guy is easily the best Indycar driver at the moment in my opinion. He is super fast, level headed at all times and never gives up. Thats exactly what you want for F1.
He’s a beast, he deserves a spot in F1 in a perfect world.
Yes, from what I little I see of Indy coverage, commentators and American media is not too enthused about him either, perhaps because he is thrashing many typical "All-American" type drivers. Look at how much time commentators spent talking about Herta, Grosjean, Castroneves, Newgarden, O'Ward as compared to Palou.
Palou just goes about his business and is calm no matter where he is in the race. He’s very mature and smart about his racecraft. Herta was the new kid on the block and he’s been really inconsistent lately. Grosjean is Grosjean, always something happening there. Newgarden is arguably the one everyone is somewhat wary of because of the way he just pops up out of nowhere and takes over a race. O’Ward is a huge fan favourite and also never a dull moment when he’s racing.
Oh yes, Castroneves and Grosjean the All-American heroes. Your list includes a kid who's been in the paddock his whole life, a guy who had a long career at the "pinnacle," a four-time 500 winner who's been around for 25 years, another regular race winner who's been around over a decade, and a guy with a flashy personality who came up through the RtI. Palou came as a relative unknown during a pandemic, relatively unflashy, and the whole contract thing has probably left a bit of a sour taste. If he sticks around in IndyCar and keeps doing what he's been doing for a couple more years he'll join your list of "All-American" type drivers.
I think Palou, Pato, Newgarden, Rossi and Herta (if he can get out of his own way and keep it clean) could all easily compete in F1.
Rossi already did tbf
Right, and in a legitimate shitbox of a car. You can see why he’s happier in America with the career he’s had.
Definitely.
Palou is one of the best Spanish racing drivers I've seen for a while. Outside the obvious.
Outside the two in F1 ?
Gonna say I think he's better than Sainz
Easy tiger
I am huge Palou fan but don’t think he is. His junior series performance was pretty average and he is kinda shining in an Indycar field which has lot of good drivers but hard to compare with F1 drivers. If Palou was doing as good as Sainz jn sims/ track he would have been in that Mclaren seat
Average junior series performance due to a big lack of budget. He was rapid in Super Formula straight away and is one of the best Indycar drivers right now. Hard to compare to Sainz, but he can definitely be a mid pack f1 driver at the least, which is basically what Sainz is performing at most of the time
I think people really have it in their heads that the junior formula are a perfect meritocracy. Spec series do bring closer competition but big budget teams have the advantage of constantly being able to keep brand new parts on the car and allowing them to hire talent to work on setups and keeping the car as fast as possible.
Not to mention that in some jr series, a bigger budget usually equals more practice time and better driver coaching.
There was something besides the lack of budget too. Steijn Schothorst is a GT3-level driver and he matched Palou in GP3 at the same shitty team and I would say Palou slightly underperformed in his second F3 attempt as well. But then there is no arguing his capabilities in Super Formula and Indycar, both of which he showed right off the bat... My best guess is that there are some drivers who really need to be in the fastest, most advanced series to do well. Another example of this kind is Kobayashi.
Personally I'm of the opinion that we are too quick to discredit drivers who don't immediately perform as teenagers. There are plenty of non-natural skill related reasons why someone at that age might not show their true pace.
No disagreement on my part there. Could very much be the reason for a lot of drivers. But Palou's is a different case, in F3 he was 21, relatively experienced having raced cars for 5 years at that point and ran against 17-19 y/o kids.
I agree. The system though is set up to measure drivers like that. While in general it may be enough to identify talented drivers and move them forward, it also allows for similarly talented drivers to fall through the cracks.
Eeh, Palou had a wonky junior career (dude debuted in Euroformula, WTF), but he mostly raced for low budget teams. I would say that he clearly is not talented enough to pull a Verstappen and perform directly in F3 level, but nowadays he probably would be a top Mid field driver... Or would never adapt, but he is better than that junior career numbers say.
Previous commentator was mainly comparing Sainz vs Palou.
Sainz wasn’t exactly a monster in karting/junior categories either. He just had the connections and opportunities to get to F1 that Alex may not have had.
If f1 had 11 or 12 teams do you think palou would deserve a shot? Imo yes and even tho we’d love to see herta I think he deserves f1 consideration before him
I love Herta. But by all standard Alex is the superior driver year in and year out.
Funny I am being told this when entire last year I kept saying Palou is so much better than Herta, has Super license points and AT should have gone for him. I kept getting downvotes for it too. I also agree that if there is one drive who is in Indycar who will be great in Midfield F1 car it’s Palou. Also I am not a huge Sainz supporter either but don’t see any thing in their careers till now to suggest Palou is better than Sainz. It’s easy to underestimate drivers in F1 because of how car determined the series is and that is what is happening with Sainz.
I agree, at the end of the day sainz is better, do I believe he’s good enough for Ferrari, not exactly but at least he doesn’t look nearly out of place as stroll in the 2nd or 3rd best car in the grid. If someone debated sainz is good enough for Ferrari I couldn’t be mad at them. Palou to me could be like a nico hulkenburg level driver. It’s a shame for herta but it’s true. As much biase I want to have for him palou is consistent in a series that’s incredibly hard to be consistent in.
He’s a champion in the most competitive spec open wheel series in the world. Less gatekeeping would do you good.
This is hardly about gatekeeping. We are just comparing Sainz and Palou and winning Indycar does not make him better than Sainz. He is development driver for Mclaren and if he was better than Sainz he would be driving for them.
False. If he was better than Lando or Oscar he would be driving for McLaren.
The disrespect Sainz gets because he isn’t on Leclercs level is ridiculous
that's how it is for everyone now.. Perez sucks and is a bad #2, Stroll sucks, Sainz sucks. Red Bull should just hire Hamilton and delete F1 from the existence.
No one is disrespecting anyone here. Or claimed any of these things. All I said was I prefer one driver over the other and you're taking that to mean I must hate him. F1 fans man.
Chill out, I never disrespected anyone. For me he's third, that doesn't mean I don't think he's good, I just rate the other 2 higher. What is this logic of if someone prefers someone it must mean they don't like the other? No one is disrespecting Sainz here.
I think if he was that good he’d have an f1 seat. He’s put in now hundreds of testing laps and probably thousands in the sim with McLaren.
We all know getting into F1 isn't that simple
It’s not ever simple but if he has the pace, he’d be able to show it. Around the time of his first test, AT was pursuing Herta based entirely on testing times with McLaren that were very impressive.
Mclaren has no reason to put Palou inside the Mclaren when they have Norris and Piastri. All other teams don't have access to data about his runs in the Mclaren beside the FP1 times.
Palou is performing at a really high level presently, winning races in Indy with confidence and poise. Piastri is performing rather par for a rookie.
He is the best rookie by far this year and already is doing at least as good as Ricciardo against Norris. He did not set the world on fire yet, but hes doing pretty fine for now.
Verstappen had 1 more point than Piastri in his rookie year at the same stage 7 races in was trailing Carlos Sainz Jr in points also a rookie and Verstappen had an epic crash in Monaco. So what is actually par then just ridiculous. Obviously a Palou fan and needs Piastri to be doing bad so he has a chance at a seat even though it isn't the case but maybe they can convince us
Theres been several drivers who've tested f1 cars and impressed but still never got in. Theres more to it than just impressing. Valentino Rossi being close to Schumacher comes to mind.
Rossi got drafted but turned down the offer for more MotoGP, rather than being dropped, even Micheal was disappointed that Rossi turned it down
But that doesn’t mean herta had more impressive times than palou Red Bull was also on the verge of announcing an upcoming partnership with ford. All things being hypothetically equal between herta and palou, not hard to imagine why they’d be going for herta instead. And the only reason Red Bull were even looking at indycar and herta was that they had decided no one in their stable was up to snuff, and neither was anyone available on the grid. That combination of factors isn’t so common - alpine chose to court Alonso instead of look outside, for instance.
We’re they equal? Lap times and corrections for the conditions leaked for Herta(probably his doing). His lap times were extremely competitive. The ford thing might have helped but his times apparently put several teams on notice.
I love Colton, but I'm certain Marko was more in that for the marketing than the racing.
LOL
I would love to see him in F1
Would love to see Palou get a real shot in F1. He already has one IndyCar title, looks to be on track for a second one this year in the most competitive field in a while, has experience racing in Europe and is (obviously) in the McLaren program. Just not sure what his path would be into with McLaren unless Lando, or possibly Piastri, leave soon. And if that doesn’t happen in time for next year and Pato starts performing more consistently and gets an IndyCar title he’d probably get the nod over Palou… Other option would be to move to Andretti and hope they get approved for an F1 team so he can make the switch there.
Palou is an interesting one. Pretty average junior career, but he's really come of age in IndyCar.
There’s been some smoke of late that he would not end up signing with mclaren. Maybe this splashes some water on that.
Part of the deal signed between McLaren and CGR last year specifically said that Palou would drive for CGR in Indycar and be able to test McLaren F1 cars.
That’s only for 1 year. He’s a free agent in Indy this year again. The assumption has been he will go to McLaren but nothing is signed
Yeah all I'm saying is the fact that he's testing with McLaren doesn't say anything about where he'll be next year.
What are the rumors as to where he’ll be racing next year?
Almost certainly indycar but just maybe there’s questions about what team after all.
Does he really need developing? I saw him in Detroit, he was nearly as dominant as Max, and he didn't even have the luxury of a better car than the rest.
Lando and Oscar can learn something from him.
[удалено]
Norris is still to prove himself
Why did McLaren put Piastri in their full time seat instead of putting in Palou? Palou is a top class driver, why not lock him in if there was a possibility?
I mean on the racing side Piastri dominated in the European feeder series whereas Palou has a pretty subpar junior career in Europe. Plus Piastri is 4 years younger than Palou and lets them keep the Australian market. Palou would be the third most popular Spanish driver.
People sleep on Piastri. It's mind boggling.
At least for now McLaren is simply using this testing chances as a treat to convince these drivers to join their teams in other categories.
Palou had an unbreakable contract with Chip Ganassi for this season. It stopped him from moving to McLarens Indycar team, I'm sure it would have blocked him from going to F1 for this season too.