Alpine Team Principal Oliver Oakes has backed reigning IndyCar Champion Alex Palou to be “very quick” in Formula 1.
Palou has made a name for himself stateside, confirming he is a modern IndyCar great by winning his third Drivers’ title last year.
Ultimately, two things are missing from his CV: victory at the Indianapolis 500 and a drive in F1.
The Spaniard came close to realising an F1 opportunity, earning a reserve role with McLaren and even participated in TPC running and FP1 at the 2022 United States Grand Prix.
This was all with an eye on switching from Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) to the Arrow McLaren IndyCar team in 2023, but CGR successfully argued a legal case that it had Palou’s services secured.
Palou went on to win the 2023 and ’24 IndyCar titles with CGR whilst being embroiled in a lawsuit with the spurned McLaren outfit and his F1 prospects look slim.
Oakes, whose Hitech outfit ran Palou in the 2018 FIA Formula 3 European Championship, told the Beyond the Grid podcast that “he’d be quick [in F1], yeah.
“Was he three-time IndyCar champion? I think he’d be very good, yeah,” he added.
Oakes embarked on a single-seater racing career before hanging up his gloves and founding Hitech Grand Prix in 2015, said he was “very close to going over to Indy Lights in the US” and admitted failing to do so was “a big regret”.
He added: “Obviously I follow a lot of IndyCar stuff now.
“Some drivers who’ve been in my team, Palou and [Marcus] Armstrong, who are over there now racing, and [Marcus] Ericsson’s a good mate of mine as well,” he concluded.
Oakes has a growing Alpine F1 driver roster
While Palou’s F1 door has likely closed, Oakes has several drivers within his Alpine squad vying to stake their claim for a full-time Grand Prix seat.
Pierre Gasly is set to lead the Alpine charge in 2025 with former reserve driver Jack Doohan stepping up into a full-time role alongside him.
In addition, Paul Aron has signed on as an Alpine reserve, after a race-winning rookie campaign in Formula 2 last year with Oakes’ Hitech team.
But the cat amongst the pigeons is Franco Colapinto, who Alpine signed as a reserve from Williams this month.
Speculation suggests the Argentine will put pressure on Doohan and if the Australian fails to perform, Colapinto will make a mid-season switch into the F1 seat.
Reports indicate that Colapinto’s deal with Alpine runs through 2029.
Needless to say, Oakes has plenty of F1 driver options at his disposal.
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