Monaco Increase Management drivers are gaining momentum in these days. Off the back of his dominant victory in Detroit, Indycar series leader Alex Palou visited Europe to attend a test with a McLaren Formula One car at the Hungaroring, in the frame of his agreement with the Woking-based team which sees him as the team’s Grand Prix reserve driver. Palou has already driven for McLaren at the Red Bull Ring and Circuit de Catalunya, besides attending Friday’s free practice session at the US F1 Grand Prix in Austin last year in October.

The test came at the end of a two-day session, the former day being dedicated to McLaren works driver Oscar Piastri. In compliance with the current Formula One regulation, both drivers ran with the 2021 Grand Prix car. Weather didn’t help though, as after a short dry run early on Thursday morning, the circuit in the outskirts of Budapest was hit by a rainstorm. Undeterred, the 26-years old from Sant Antoni hit the track in those treacherous conditions and said driving an F1 car in the wet ‘was fun’, besides being reportedly very well at ease with the driving.

Eventually, at the end of the day, the sky cleared and Alex was able to do some dry running on both Hard and Soft tire compounds. Despite some areas of the track (notably the kerbs) being still damp, Palou managed an unofficial time of 1mim19secs.

“I’m really happy”, Palou commented. “I did lots of laps and lots of learning, and wish to thank all the guys at McLaren and of course MIM for the opportunity I had”. On Friday, Palou is scheduled to make a quick appearance at the Autodromo di Monza to pay a visit to his dad Ramon and his Eurocup team.