Palou turned his back on joining McLaren f🤪or the 2024 IndyCar season in a surprising twist.

The 26-year-old was involved in a contract struggle between Ganassi and McLaren in 2022, when Palou signed a contract with the Workin🀅g-based team.

Ganassi ultimately filed a lawsuit against Palou, which ultimately led him to rem🐎ain the team for this season, while being able to drive McLaren’s F1 cars and act as their reserve driver.

Palou got opportunities to drive for McLaren at tꦏhe Hungaroring very ๊recently, while he drove in FP1 at last year’s United States Grand Prix.

It’s a kick in the teeth for Zak Brown, who can probably empathise more with Alpine who lost 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Oscar Piastri to McLaren last year following a contract🍸 tug-of-war.

In a letter sent to McLaren employees, Brown wrote: “This is incredibly disappointi🔥ng, considering the commitment he has made to us both directly and publicly and our significant investment in him based on 🌌that commitment. 

“Time, money and resources preparing to welcome Alex into our team because we🔯 believed in him an꧂d were looking forward to IndyCar wins with him.”

It seems likely Palou will remain in IndyCar and sign a𝔍 longer, multi-year deal with Ganassi.

However, by cutting ♏ties with McLaren, he does leave himself open to F1 opportun🐼ities elsewhere.

Clearly, with Piastri and 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lando Norris, McLaren have their F1 driver line-up sorted for the next three to four years - there’s no chance for Palou🐷.

What options could he have in F1?

AlphaTauri

The obvious choice 💎is AlphaTauri given the uncertainty arꦕound their driver line-up.

168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Daniel Ricciardo made a surprise return in place of 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Nyck de Vries at the Hungarian Grand Prix, with the Australian openly eyeing up 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Sergio Perez’s seat for 2025.

Ricciardo doesn’t fit the AlphaTauri prof🐻ile but given that they have limited options outside of Liam Lawson, his ♍return was ultimately logical.

168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Yuki Tsunoda seems favoured by Helmut Marko an🐼d the Red Bull management, however, he’s yet to prove he’s worth﷽y of a Red Bull drive.

Red Bull have shown by the signin🐈g of de Vries that they ar꧒e prepared to go outside of their own driver academy if needed.

With potentially two IndyCar titles to his name, Palou ꦗhas the credentials while being a more experienced option age-wise.

Haas

All signs are pointing towards 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Nico Hulkenberg remaining with Haas for another season.

The German has been magnificent in qualifyi✃ng, leading the team to some impressive hig🅰hs.

On the other hand, 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Kevin Magnussen has struggled, and Miami aside, he's generally been u🔴nderwhelming.

The Dane is out o🍬f contract at the end of the year, with Haas in no rush to hand him a new deal.

Haas don’t have too many options, particularly as team boss Guenther Steiner isn’t keen on rookie drivers after two years of 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Mick Schumacher.

Palou,ꦿ while he’d officially be a rookie in F1꧋, has a wealth of top single-seater experience, combined with his age at 26, isn’t a traditional ‘rookie’ either.

While he is not an American, it would be great PR for🍸 Haas to ꦛsign the best driver from IndyCar.

Williams

Palou’s final option would be Williams.

Williams enjoyed a surprise upwards trajectory in 2023 with168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史: Alex Albon spear-heading their revival.

The signing of James Vowles as team principal has been a🌺 major coup, but they still need a better-performing second driver.

Similar to Nicholas Latifi, 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Logan Sargeant continues to underperform and shows no real signꦺ of improvement.

He has show🌳n flashes of pace - Bahrain and Azerbaijan spring to mind - but the gap to Albon is too vast.

Schumacher is in the frame to return to F1 with Williams in 2024 - which may🥃 make this a more unlikely option for Palou.