Álex Palou, the last Spanish conqueror in the Americas, takes the next step

To get to Formula 1 there are different ways. The oldest in the paddock, such as Fernando Alonso or Lewis Hamilton, did so on the path of success, winning championships in the so-called promotional Formula until they reached the top. Although that ladder has not disappeared, far from it -proof of this is the presence of young people like George Russell or Nick de Vries, both F2 champions since 2023-, being the winner of major championships, whether they are typical of Formula 1, or of other types of categories, it is no longer a guarantee of uploading.

The example of reaching Formula 1 by the longest way is personified by the 21st Spanish driver who has participated in a Grand Prix. As of this Friday, Álex Palou from Barcelona already knows what it’s like to share the track with the riders of the ‘great circus’. Palou participated for the first time in free practice with the McLaren team, who opted for him to take over his services, not without a legal battle with his team, Ganassi, with whom he became IndyCar champion. The Catalan pilot is not the great jewel of the Spanish academy because it has been a long time since he can be considered a young promise, but rather he is a reliable reality. Second in the legendary Indianapolis 500, candidate for everything and finally champion of the contest, it was a matter of time before he drew attention far from the American borders.

His career to F1 could not be more opposed to that of men like the aforementioned Alonso, or his contemporary Carlos Sainz, with whom he has spent three years. While today’s Ferrari driver was soon called into the ranks of Red Bull’s young talent school, and from there he rose to the top, Palou had to swerve from F3 to go to Japan, where he immediately stood out. From there to IndyCar, where he already knows what it means not only to win races, but also a historic championship that helped put him on everyone’s lips.

His incorporation to McLaren brought a lot of queue. A unilateral renewal of Ganassi that Palou himself denied, a parallel response from McLaren saying that it was his but without confirming if he was going to get to F1 but also if he was going to stay in his structure, Arrow McLaren, in Indy. In the end it was the lawyers who decided and the Barcelonan renewed, reluctantly, and in 2023 it will continue in its current structure to keep car 10 in the American contest.

The siren songs of Formula 1 were too tempting and almost cost him his ‘status quo’ at Indy. In the United States he has earned prestige thanks to his speed, good behavior on and off the track and technical qualities that, as the late Adrián Campos saw (the same one who discovered Fernando Alonso), have taken him very far. Whether or not he will be in the World Cup elite, only time can tell, but McLaren has tied him up just in case. They don’t want to miss the opportunity.

Three Spaniards on track

It was not, far from it, the first time that three Spaniards coincided on the track, but it was possibly the most different from each other. On the one hand, there is Fernando Alonso, who faces the long final stretch of his sports career, in a team that neither loves him nor cares for him -the last ugly thing they have done to him is not giving him the new floor that Ocon will have- and with the mind set on another, Aston Martin, which barely leaves the bottom of the grid.

In a very different situation is Carlos Sainz, whose disappointment is palpable not only in his statements, where he admits that he does not feel comfortable with the Ferrari and that he knows he is inferior to Charles Leclerc, who is far away in race pace. Only a new victory between now and the end of the year would be enough to get rid of the bad taste in his mouth.

And the last to arrive is Palou, who despite being an innate talent and more than respected in Indy, in F1 he is a rookie with a lot of substance but zero kilometers in a GP beyond some private tests. Only fate knows what can happen, but the addition of Oscar Piastri to McLaren alongside Lando Norris guarantees a young and eager duo for many years to come. That Palou finds his place if one of them leaves, will depend more on him staying hungry and keeping an eye out if either of them does not measure up.