Alex Palou Becomes Reserve Driver for McLaren

Has joined McLaren as one of their reserve drivers for 2023.

https://www.mclaren....er-2023-season/

Edited by owenmahamilton, 01 December 2022 - 14:06.

Holy banana-split. This title scared me.

Also, would it not fit in any other thread?

It probably would but I wasn't sure which was the best thread to put it in. If the mods want to move it to a more appropriate thread and close this one then that's fine with me.

I guess the question becomes where does this leave Pato?  He seems to have slipped down the pecking order behind Alex now.  I guess 1 of the regulars will be the reserve for the 12 races which clash with Indycar in 23.

I guess the question becomes where does this leave Pato?  

Does Pato have enough Superlicence points?

Palou's one of the Indycar drivers who qualifies for an F1 superlicence, right?

That must be an interesting contract he has with Chip to allow that...  have to admit his focus will NOT be with indycar next year...

Palou's one of the Indycar drivers who qualifies for an F1 superlicence, right?

Yep.

Palou's one of the Indycar drivers who qualifies for an F1 superlicence, right?

Yes he won the IndyCar title which automatically qualifies him

https://en.wikipedia...A_Super_Licence

I guess the question becomes where does this leave Pato?  He seems to have slipped down the pecking order behind Alex now.  I guess 1 of the regulars will be the reserve for the 12 races which clash with Indycar in 23.

This really is a shame because I like Pato a lot and was really hoping for him to one day become a McLaren F1 driver, I follow Indycar on a surface level and watch as many races as I can (which isn't a massive amount) so I don't know the ins and outs of why Pato has sort of fallen out of favour McLaren. Any reason? Sorry if this is not the thread for that question.

As for Palou, I also think he is great and am a massive fan of his too. I'm dying for a top level Indycar driver to come across to F1 and join the sport and to be an instant success, it bothers me the way many view Indycar and their racers. 

Pato O'Ward was 4th, 3rd & 7th in IndyCar that means he has 34 Super Licence points so 6 points short. Palou has 48 SL points.

So, this all worked out for Palou in the end. This was almost certainly what he originally wanted back in the summer when he tweeted that response to the Ganassi announcement. People thought he had screwed his career. I must go back and see if I thought that  .

Patricio hasn’t fallen down any pecking order, he doesn’t have a superlicence, Palou does.

Difficult to read this one. Palou was clearly very impressive in his FP1 outing, so McLaren is either keeping him as a backup if Piastri turns out to be rubbish or Norris wants out, or locking him down so that someone else doesn't nick him. I'm leaning more towards the latter with a dusting of the former. 

So, this all worked out for Palou in the end. This was almost certainly what he originally wanted back in the summer when he tweeted that response to the Ganassi announcement. People thought he had screwed his career. I must go back and see if I thought that  .

Too soon to tell.  Like so many others he could easily wash out of F1 in a season or two.  Or never get the seat in the first place.  Part of his deal with Ganassi is to allow him to do other events when they don’t conflict with Indycar.  If he doesn’t make it in F1 his options for Indycar could be reduced to mid pack with perhaps the best option some seat at the McLaren Indycar team.  Time will tell.

Too soon to tell.  Like so many others he could easily wash out of F1 in a season or two.  Or never get the seat in the first place.  Part of his deal with Ganassi is to allow him to do other events when they don’t conflict with Indycar.  If he doesn’t make it in F1 his options for Indycar could be reduced to mid pack with perhaps the best option some seat at the McLaren Indycar team.  Time will tell.

What I mean is that he is getting the shot that he wanted, and something he didn't have before. Of course it may never go anywhere but, prior to the controversy, he did not have any link or role with respect to an F1 team. It was never going to be a case of getting the actual F1 drive ahead of Piastri (and I assume he wasn't promised it). I also don't think there is a downside to his Indycar career. There is always a risk of falling back into midfield drives as time goes on but no more than before.