The Team Penske-Chevrolet driver has no immediate plans to make the switch from Indycar to F1, but admits seeing the 2017 generation of cars has increased his interest in testing the machinery.

“It reignited my passion for F1 cars,” he said of his trip to the Circuit of the Americas last weekend. “I haven’t seen them up close in a couple of years. It’s hard not to want to jump in the car and go try and compete with the guys.

“My focus is on IndyCar and it’s going to be with Team Penske. But after this week, I’m going to take a little more interest as to what is going on in the F1 world and poke around a bit more and see what is going to be happening in the future because you never know when the right situation arises. And if it does, I want to look at it.”

Newgarden was one of the names linked to the Toro Rosso seat in Austin, with the team drafting in Brendon Hartley to drive alongside the returning Daniil Kvyat, but he was surprised when he heard the rumors.

“There was a lot of chatter that everyone thought I would be in the Toro Rosso seat but there was nothing there,” said the American. “I hadn’t spoken to anyone about it to be honest. I haven’t been close to doing anything. I haven’t spoken to anybody.”

When asked if he had had talks with Haas, Newgarden said: “I talked to a couple of people at Haas, but never anything serious.

“So there was nothing there. It seems it could be a potential fit if anything was going to happen but I wouldn’t want to box it in for just Haas. I haven’t had any serious talks with anyone.”

Newgarden admitted that unless he was with one of the top three teams in F1, he’d have to change his mentality of expecting to contend for victory at each race.

“You’d have to lose that,” he said. “The truth is, every IndyCar race, even before when I was with ECR, a smaller team, I went into every race thinking we had a shot at winning – If it all works out, I know we can win the race.

“Having to think different from that is tough. It would be a different thought process.”

Despite interest in running an F1 car in the future, Newgarden said he would have no regrets if it didn’t happen because he has “been so fortunate”.

He added: “There’s no way I could look back and regret anything in my career. I’ve had so many more opportunities than a lot of racers.

“If this was my last year in racing, I wouldn’t regret anything. I would love a chance at an F1 car at some point, like many other racecars I would like to try. [But] I’ve done more than anyone could ask for so I won’t be displeased.”