Palou: IndyCar deserves more superlicence points, not as many as F2

Palou, who made his debut in an official Formula 1 session by contesting FP1 for McLaren at Circuit of The Americas on Friday, already has a superlicence.

But the Chip Ganassi Racing IndyCar driver, who will remain with the team next year after a protracted tug-of-war with Arrow McLaren SP, believes that AMSP rival and fellow McLaren F1 tester Patricio O'Ward has also achieved enough success to be worthy of a superlicence.

Both drivers have run three complete IndyCar seasons and have four wins apiece, while Palou (15) has one more podium finish than his Mexican counterpart - who will contest FP1 for McLaren in Abu Dhabi.

However, Palou won the championship last season while 2018 Indy Lights title-winner O'Ward has not yet finished higher than third.

Fellow IndyCar racer Colton Herta was linked with an F1 switch with AlphaTauri for 2023, but the team instead signed Nyck de Vries to replace Alpine-bound Pierre Gasly when it became clear Herta would not qualify for a superlicence. 

This prompted McLaren boss Zak Brown to call for a review in the way superlicence rules are written.

Asked at COTA if he thought successful IndyCar drivers should be granted more points, Palou said: “Yeah, I don't think that's going to change at all.

“I have my superlicence, I'm happy, I don't care what happens. But obviously, I think it's very unfair that there's some series that they don't get enough license points.

Alex Palou, McLaren MCL36

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

“Pato doesn't have [a superlicence] and he finished third in the [2021] championship, fourth in the [2020] championship, and seventh [this season].

“So I mean, a guy that is like that during 17 weekends racing against people that has 10 or 15 years of experience in IndyCar, that guy is capable of doing a lot in F1.

“But that's the rules, so hopefully they change it in the future.

“I understand that also the FIA want everybody to go through Europe and not through other places. But it's true that you could get more points by racing in, I don't know, a winter series in Thailand and winning that than finishing fifth in IndyCar.

“That's a bit like, I don't know if that's fair or not!”

However, Palou insisted that he didn’t feel that IndyCar should be on par with F2 with regard to superlicense points granted.

“No, I think the programme they have in F2 is good,” he stated.

“If you finish in the top three, you get a superlicense. That should be like that.

“But I think they could maybe give a little bit more. I don't think we're asking to match it.

Patricio O'Ward, Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

“We understand that the FIA wants to have everybody go through Europe's path, and that's totally understandable.

“But I think you should give a little bit more importance in IndyCar basically because of the level of the drivers and also how long our season is.

“The track time we get, it's massive compared to an F2 driver. And I'm not saying that we are better but I mean, we're capable of going out and driving in F1.”

Williams revealed on Saturday that Carlin F2 driver Logan Sargeant will graduate to F1 with the team next year if he secures enough superlicence points.