Indycar star driver says no to Cadillac F1 – This weekend in North America while Formula One was taking a break, the only race in the NTT Indycar series took place outside of the USA. Having failed to qualify well in Toronto, McLaren’s lead driver Pato O’ward opted for an alternative strategy where he ran the soft tyres for just one lap at the start of the race.
Championship leader Alex Palou on a different strategy ran the hard tyres instead at the start of the race in Canada. He had built up a full pit stop time gap on the field when ex-F1 racer Alexander Rossi ploughed into the wall bringing out the safety car.
The subsequent bunching up of the field favoured Mexican driver O’Ward and McLaren’s strategy as race leaders Palou and Dixon were trapped at the head of the pack with the pit lane closed. O’Ward eventually cruised to victory and closed the gap to championship leader Palou, as the McLaren driver secured P2 in the title race following two victories in the last three outings.
Few Indycar drivers transition to F1
O’ward has a cult following in North American single seater racing and at race weekends he has been forced to setup additional ‘Pato’ merchandise stands due to the demand from the fans. Yet his on track success over the past four seasons has been limited due to the extraordinary talents of Palou in the Chip Ganassi team.
Palou has claimed three of the last four Indycar championships and his current 99 point lead over O’Ward with four races to go, whilst mathematically possible to overtake, looks unassailable.
A number of F1 drivers at the end of their career head across the pond and compete in the Indycar series, yet transfers the other way are few and far between. The last driver to make that move was Sebastian Bordais who having won the last four Champ Car series joined the yet undiscovered Sebastian Vettel at Toro Rosso for the 2008-09 F1 seasons. Vettel was to go on and become a quadruple F1 champion, while Bordais would return to North America and the rival Indycar series to the one where he had won four titles.
The most recent hope of an Indycar driver transitioning to Formula One, was with Alex Palou, the Spanish driver who is breaking records left, right and centre in the sport. Having won his first title with the Chip Ganassi team at his first attempt with the team, the racing organisation issued a press release statement claiming they had taken up an option to retain Palou for 2023 and beyond.
Alex Palou rejected McLaren F1 contract
An hour or so later, Palou refuted this on social media and claimed the quote attributed to him by the team was written by the team and had not been approved by him. He also revealed he had given Chip Ganassi Racing prior notice that he intended to leave the team to join McLaren’s roster of drivers for 2024.
The in a change of heart, Palou decided he would remain with Ganassi despite the lure of McLaren Formula One connection. His reward was two more Indycar titles with another soon to be concluded. Palou is currently unrivalled in the Indycar series but O’Ward has the huge fan base. And while the McLaren F1 team’s line up is secure for now, the Mexican driver may well one day make the transition to F1 whilst remaining with the McLaren racing team.
Mario Andretti, non-executive director of Cadillac F1, stated during the application process to become the eleventh team in the sport that they would like to include an all American driver. Yet as the team morphed from Andretti to Cadillac it was uncertain whether this would be the case.
When asked in victory lane last evening about runners pof him joining the Cadillac F1 team, O’Ward poked fun at the speculation suggesting it was similar to that which suggested Fernando Alonso was dating a famous pop star.
Verstappen “press conference in Spa”
Pato O’Ward rules out Cadillac
“The rumours about me going to Cadillac were like the rumours about Fernando Alonso hanging out with Taylor Swift,” the Arrow McLaren driver quipped to ESPN Mexico. Although links between O’Ward and F1 are not entirely without substance given the Mexican driver took part in Free Practice One at the 2024 Mexican Grand Prix in his role as reserve driver.
Cadillac F1’s team boss, Graham Lowden, has confirmed the new team is in talks with a number of drivers including Mick Schumacher, Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez who are all experienced in F1. In an apparent rebuttal of Mario Andretti’s initial suggestion the team would have an American driver, Lowden insists they will now be recruited based on previous performance.
Cadillac to “select drivers on merit”
“We’ll select drivers on merit. Having a driver on merit doesn’t mean you can’t have an American passport as well. We’ve got a lot to choose from,” he said. “But also, you can’t just judge an F1 team on what they’re doing this year or next year. The team’s here to stay. I think the fans would love to see an American driver in an American team.
“There’s nothing stopping that from happening, but we’ve just got to go ahead and select on merit and build a team, because there are a few very experienced drivers available. We weren’t able to participate in the last round of driver negotiations, so we’re out of sync with a lot of other teams. But there’s some advantages to that as well. There’s a lot of very good drivers available at the minute.
“As and when we put the driver line-up together, whatever it is, it’ll be a strong one.” The reality is it would highly surprising if Cadillac F1 do not recruit Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas because as the new team finds its feet, drivers with experience of F1 can contribute to that process. Cadillac will not sign a rookie given this is often done by smaller teams for funding reasons but the American giant parent auto-company General Motors, has deep pockets and will want the best they can recruit.
Red Bull chief: Why I quit
Wheatley reveals why he left Red Bull – One of the supposed reasons for the sacking of team boss Christian Horner, has been suggested to be the alleged ‘brain drain’ that the team has suffered in recent years. Long standing Chief engineer Rob Marshall was the first to hand in his notice in 2023 as McLaren offered him the role their technical director.
Adrian Newey was next to announce his departure last May, with the F1 car design guru suggesting he may take a sabbatical. Yet Aston Martin offered Newey something he always regretted not negotiating for with his previous three teams, that off shares in the racing outfit he will attempt to take to the front of the field.
That same weekend in Miami, the team’s sporting director Jonathan Wheatley was reported to be leaving the Red Bull team aswell. Whilst the reports were false, it triggered “difficulties” at work, Wheatley now reveals, yet the upside was the interest it created from other teams in the paddock…. READ MORE
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I really don’t see them signing Bottas. He already proved with Sauber that he’s no help in developing a car.
Perez on the other hand has a history of getting the most out of his equipment. Plus if RBR would have listened to him about the car they’d be a lot better off right now than they are.
Totally wrong on both counts David