Palow and O’Ward criticize the super licensing system

Alex Palou and Pato O’Ward, two IndyCar drivers taking part in F1 testing this year and practicing driving McLaren cars, have complaints about the FIA’s current super licensing system.

Palou, last year’s IndyCar champion, has a super license, but O’Ward does not, although he finished 4th, 3rd and 7th in the final three seasons of the US series, taking four wins in 2021 and 2022. Palou also won four races in these two years.

The IndyCar champion gets 40 points, which is enough for a super license. The driver who won the title in Formula 2 receives the same amount, but in the youth series 40 points are also awarded to the rest of the top three drivers, while in IndyCar, which took 2nd place at the end of the season, only 30 points. 3rd place gets 20, 4th place gets 10, and so on.

O’Ward finished 7th in the US Championship this year, receiving just 4 points, although IndyCar is a high-level series where real professionals compete. Pato showed excellent pace in qualifying, starting from the top six on all road-type circuits, but in races his technique failed him more than once.

When Palou was asked if anything should be changed in the FIA ​​super licensing system, the Spanish driver said: “Yes, but I don’t think it will change anything. Of course I have a super license, I’m happy, so I don’t care what happens there.

But of course I think it’s very unfair if in some series not enough points are awarded – for example, Pato doesn’t have such a license, although he took 3rd place in our championship, and 4th and 7th. If a man fights 17 weekends a year on the track with professionals who have 10 or 15 years of experience in IndyCar, he can achieve a lot in Formula 1.

But rules are rules, so it is to be hoped that they will change in the future. As far as I understand the FIA ​​wants everyone to go through the European or other championships. But the truth is, you can get more points for winning a winter series in Thailand than for finishing 5th in IndyCar. I don’t think it’s fair.”

Indeed, 10 points are awarded for the Asian Formula 3 title and only eight points for 5th place in IndyCar.

Pato O’Ward also believes that the IndyCar series is clearly underrated: “We need to join forces and try to solve this. It seems to me that many riders miss all kinds of opportunities, because everything is blocked by the lack of a super license …

I have all the necessary qualities to deserve it. But I think there are a lot of great drivers who should get a chance to break through in Formula 1, but don’t get them just because they don’t have a super license.

We all know how hard it is to win in IndyCar and how high the competition is in this series. I believe that every driver who claims the title in IndyCar deserves the chance to break through in Formula 1, if one of the teams decides to give him such a chance.

In this case, O’Ward alludes to the situation with Colton Herta, who was interested in Red Bull and was ready to invite him to AlphaTauri, but that didn’t work out just for a formal reason.

“Not every driver has a perfect career, because not everyone has millions to spend to get into Formula 1,” the Mexican continued. – Like many others, my career developed according to a crazy scenario, I raced in Japan, in Mexico, I raced sports prototypes in America and in Europe.

But when you play in different series, it often happens that due to certain circumstances you do not complete the championship, because you run out of money, or something else happens.

It’s all just a shame because I think a lot of talented riders don’t get the chance they deserve because they run into some kind of hurdle.”