27/08/2025
NEWS STORY
Four-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou and his team boss have dismissed talk linking the Spaniard with Red Bull as "clickbait".
The Spaniard, who recently secured his fourth IndyCar crown, has long been linked with a move to F1 and in 2022 was signed to McLaren's Testing of Previous Cars programme. Making his FP1 debut at the United States Grand Prix that same year, he described the experience as "insane".
The Spaniard subsequently signed up to join McLaren's Indy project in 2023 with a view to promotion to its F1 team, a move that resulted in legal action involving the Woking team and Chip Ganassi Racing.
It was eventually decided that while Palou would remain with Ganassi for 2023 he could also work for McLaren before joining the Woking squad in 2024. Palou tested the MCL35M alongside Oscar Piastri at the Hungaroring in 2023 but also secured his second IndyCar title. He subsequently opted to remain with Ganassi resulting in a multi-million dollar lawsuit which comes to trial in London next month.
In May, Palou told reporters that F1 was not "calling me anymore".
"I don't think they're having as much fun as I'm having here," he added. "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."
Now we all know that the devil makes work for idle hands, but in recent days, as F1's summer break came to an end, there has been media speculation linking the Spaniard with Red Bull.
"There's been nothing, nothing at all," the Spaniard told the Associated Press on Tuesday. "We have heard nothing from anyone. The only thing I've heard was it was a manager for some other driver in IndyCar who would like to have my seat who said it to start something."
"I read that myself," added Ganassi. "There was nobody quoted in there. I talked to Palou. Palou said he's never talked to anybody, doesn't know anything about it. I talked to his management. They know nothing about it. I know nothing about it. I think it's a clickbait story.
"He had an opportunity to leave and he decided to stay," added Ganassi, referring to 2023's tug-of-war. "I don't know how many times I have to say that. Everybody can see that."
"I think maybe if I had a different experience from 2022, then I would have a different view," said Palou of a move to F1. "I feel like I got my shot and it didn't work. And I'm just lucky that I could still get back to the best IndyCar team to win championships and the 500.
"I'm not 22," he added. "You cannot go to F1 as a rookie at 29 and ask for two years to learn the track and learn the car and ask them to wait for you to start to perform. You need to go there and perform immediately. I don't think I am missing out on anything not going to F1."
Meanwhile, Colton Herta failed to dismiss talk linking him with a switch to F2 in a bid to secure the necessary superlicence points to move up to F1. The American, who has 9 IndyCar wins under his belt, drives for Andretti Global, which, of course, is owned by Dan Towriss, CEO of the Cadillac F1 team.
"Oh boy, I don't really have any comments for any of that stuff, to be honest," Herta told the Associated Press when asked about the F2 rumour.
When told that by not denying the speculation he effectively allowed it to continue, he said: "It does, but it also makes people talk about me more. Maybe even raises my stock a little."
Towriss was equally unforthcoming. "That's not what we're reporting today," he snapped, when asked about the rumour.