12/10/2025
NEWS STORY
Four-time IndyCar champion, Alex Palou, claims he was misled by McLaren into believing he was to drive for the Woking team in F1.
McLaren is suing the Spaniard for $20m (£15m) in a lawsuit in which he is accused of a breach of contract.
In mid-2022, Chip Ganassi Racing, with whom Palou had won the 2021 IndyCar title, issued a press release claiming that the Spaniard had re-signed for 2023. The team claimed it had exercised an option in his contract, the release including a quote attributed to the driver.
However, hours later Palou took to social media to claim that the quote had essentially been made up by the team and that in fact he had given the team notice of his intention leave at season end and join McLaren.
McLaren got in on the act by issuing its own release confirming that Palou was now on board, however it didn't mention whether the Spaniard was to be part of the F1 team or its burgeoning IndyCar programme.
Not for the first time the sport found itself in the law courts and eventually Ganassi won, retaining the Spaniard for 2023, while he would join McLaren in 2024.
Palou subsequently denied the McLaren deal, with Zak Brown claiming the Spaniard had said he had "no intention of honouring his contract".
McLaren Racing and Arrow McLaren subsequently began legal proceedings against Palou in London, citing the cost of his F1 test programme, the loss of potential sponsorship deals and even a $400,000 advance on his 2024 salary.
While Palou admits to a breach of contract, he insists that he owes McLaren nothing as he was misled, believing that he would be joining the F1 team and not remaining in IndyCar.
Of course, in the midst of all this Alpine protege Oscar Piastri became available, creating another legal wrangle for the Woking outfit, but one which is clearly paying off.
The case got underway this week in London, with Palou insisting that he was misled.
"My motivation in signing the March 2022 McLaren contract was that I had just won my first IndyCar Championship," Palou told the court, "and I thought it was still a good time in my young career to get to F1 and try and have a chance there.
"After I won the IndyCar championship, I thought it would be tough, but feasible to get a chance in F1," he added.
Palou insists that even though McLaren had now signed Piastri, Brown assured him that there was still a chance for him in F1.
"Zak told me in various conversations we had in person, including during the time I was testing with McLaren at the track in September and October 2022, that he really loves IndyCar and wanted to get a driver from IndyCar to F1," said the Spaniard.
"Zak told me he believed we could make it happen and that he would give me all the preparation I needed to be an F1 driver for McLaren."
Referring to Piastri, he said: "In 2022, I saw Oscar Piastri posting tweets that were similar to mine. Oscar made it clear he would not be driving for Alpine's F1 team but would be driving for McLaren's F1 team.
"Around a month later, McLaren announced that Oscar would be on their F1 team for 2023," he added. "That was the first time things changed.
"The first time I heard about Oscar signing for McLaren's F1 team was on Twitter," he continued, "and I was very upset, worried, and angry that McLaren had signed another rookie driver that was not me.
"Zak told me that it was not his decision to hire Oscar," he continued. "He said it was the decision of the team manager, Andreas Seidl. Zak told me that Oscar's performance would be evaluated against mine for the 2024 seat."
Palou's counsel claimed that Brown had made "false promises of F1 glory" accusing the American of "shafting" drivers and in this specific case "stringing Mr Palou along".
"All that time you have been stringing Mr Palou along," said the Spaniard's lawyer, Nick De Marco.
"I never told him he would be under consideration for 2023," insisted Brown. "There was some optionality to join F1."
When McLaren's counsel, Paul Goulding accused Palou of being the one stringing the team along, the Spaniard replied: "Absolutely not. I think you're twisting the story."
The hearing resumes on Monday (20 October) with closing submissions due on 5 November.
Expect fireworks.