Alex Palou shuts down F1 rumors after Indy 500 win: 'I don't want to leave now'
"(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," Palou told the Indy Star. "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."
The Spaniard had been rumored to be a target to join an F1 team before his dominant start to the 2025 season, with Cadillac being the most recent team linked to Palou. He also attempted to race in F1 in 2023, joining McLaren as part of its Testing of Previous Cars program.
However, at 28, Palou believes that the time has now passed for him to join an F1 team as racers in the sport have been getting younger at the time of their debuts.
"I don't want to leave now. 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?" Palou added. "And it 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).'"
Palou has won the INDYCAR Series in three of the last four years, taking home the Drivers' champion title in 2021, 2023 and 2024. His 2025 season might be his best yet, though. He's won five of the first six races, with his win at the Indy 500 on Sunday being the first ever at the event by a Spaniard. It also marks the best start an individual driver has had in an INDYCAR season since 1964, when A.J. Foyt won the first seven races of that season. The one race Palou didn't win, the Acura Grand Prix, he finished second.
Palou will seek to win his sixth race of the season on Sunday, when the 2025 INDYCAR season continues with the Detroit Grand Prix (12:30 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app).
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