Newgarden eyes switch to F1

Newgarden, like Alexander Rossi, will never be given a real chance in F1 unless they can bring a huge sum of money

2017 IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden has revealed that he would be very interested in joining Formula 1 should the opportunity arise.

The American secured a first Championship title in his maiden campaign with Team Penske and, while he is happy to continue in the IndyCar series, he would love to test himself in Formula 1.

"I've got to understand where I am at," Newgarden told ESPN. "I'm in the best situation I could ever possibly dream of in the American side.

"With IndyCar, with American racing, you can't beat Team Penske. Even on a global scale, they are arguably one of the greatest motorsport teams in all of history. You look at that and you say, 'Well, I'm in a phenomenal position.'

"The IndyCar series, to me, is a really great one now it's on the up, it's got great competition, but absolutely, Formula 1, I'd love to try it."

Newgarden faced Fernando Alonso at the Indianapolis 500 this year and believes he shares something in common with the Spaniard.

"I'm a bit like Fernando in a way that he wants to try all different disciplines. He wants to be well-rounded, and I agree with that a lot.

"I'd love to try every form of motorsport, sports cars, NASCAR. I love IndyCar and want to continue doing that, but also I'd love to do Formula 1.

"It was a dream of mine when I was younger to do multiple forms of open-wheel racing, IndyCar and Formula 1.

"If it was something that I could dip my hand into, I would be all for it. If the right opportunity came about and we could make it happen, I'd want to try it."

And, at 26, Newgarden believes time is on his side to make the F1 dream come true.

He added: "I think you've got to look at it in terms of years. I'm still young enough where it's possible to go do that. If you hopefully make it to 40, 42 in motorsports … when you're 26 there's still time to move around a bit right now.

"I would definitely be open to moving over to here and this side of the world for a little bit, but my end goal would probably be to come back to IndyCar if that happened.

"You never know how these things shake out. For me, I'm focused on IndyCar and working for Team Penske.

"That's my gig, and I'm very happy with it. But if something could be worked out in Formula 1, I would absolutely look at it and try to make it happen."