Palou: IndyCar lags far behind F1 in efficiency

On Friday in Austin, Alex Palow drove the McLaren MCL36 for the first time in Friday practice and did quite well. But that was preceded by thorough preparation, including the 25-year-old Spanish driver, last year’s IndyCar Series champion, who worked on his physical condition, because he knew from others that the loads behind the wheel of Formula 1 cars are much higher. .

He was told this in particular by Pato O’Ward, his overseas championship colleague, who worked with McLaren on tests in Abu Dhabi last December, after which he admitted that when he stepped out of the cockpit his head “just fell off.”

“Because I heard both Pato’s stories and the comments of others, I tried to prepare well and spent a lot of time on this,” Palou told the Spanish newspaper Diario AS. – It just depended on me and I didn’t want to be disturbed by poor physical preparation.

I couldn’t afford not to finish the training program because of this, because it could upset the team. The stress on the neck in Formula 1 is higher than in IndyCar and other races I’ve been involved in because these cars are much faster in the corners. But the steering isn’t that tight, and thanks to the power steering, it’s quite easy, while in IndyCar it’s the other way around.

The only thing Formula 1 and IndyCar have in common is that they are race cars with four wheels and an engine. However, in Formula 1, there are two engines, one of which is electric. As an IndyCar driver I give this series a very high rating, but I think we are very far behind F1 in terms of car efficiency.

Obviously we are using a chassis that was developed ten years ago and the annual budget is equivalent to what Formula 1 spends for one grand prix. While our series is good in its own way, it is very different from F1. Our car accelerates much worse, the grip is more than twice as bad and in terms of technology IndyCar has less than two percent of what is in F1.

Many years ago I stopped dreaming about Formula 1. When I raced in Japanese Super Formula, the IndyCar series was my goal. I knew I could get there if I showed good results in races and good speed in tests.

I can’t say I’m thinking about F1 again, but if any of the World Cup teams offer cooperation, such an opportunity should be seized to gain as much experience as possible, if only for training.

I want to fight for wins and in IndyCar I can win races and I have nothing to complain about. But I’m ready to admit that Formula 1 is on a completely different level, and if there is an opportunity, of course we have to take it. We see this with Nick de Vries, who unexpectedly got his chance.

I would never trade my reserve driver job just to be in the Formula 1 paddock every weekend. Definitely not for me. But if one of the teams offers a place in the first team, it will be very difficult to refuse.