F1 News: McLaren Files Lawsuit Against Alex Palou After Paying "Millions Of Dollars" Before Major Snub

McLaren has filed a lawsuit against Alex Palou.

McLaren has officially filed a lawsuit against IndyCar racer, Alex Palou. The dispute revolves around what McLaren perceives as Palou’s non-fulfilment of his racing contract.

This goes back to last year when, Arrow McLaren, with a vision of strengthening their lineup, announced they'd onboarded Palou for the 2023 racing season. This was swiftly countered by Chip Ganassi Racing, Palou’s current team, who laid their own claim to the racer's services. 

An agreement was reached by all parties: Palou would continue racing for Chip Ganassi Racing in the IndyCar series but would also participate in Formula 1 tests for McLaren. The long-term plan projected a full-time move for Palou to McLaren by 2024.

The waters were muddied when Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren, revealed last week that Palou had "no intention" of seeing the agreement through and did not foresee a future with McLaren after 2023. 

IndyStar reports that lawsuits have been lodged by both McLaren Racing Limited and McLaren Indy against Palou and his racing establishment, ALPA Racing USA. These lawsuits, filed in the UK, signal McLaren's intent to retrieve substantial monetary investments they channelled into Palou's career. Brown revealed to Forbes:

“We made a significant investment in Alex Palou, looking forward to racing with him in 2024. We’re placing our trust in the legal system to resolve this matter and will keep our comments at that.

“As a team, we’re turning our focus to the final races this season and on our plans for 2024, which we’ll announce once we’re ready.”

Brown also confirmed that McLaren has already paid out a significant amount of money on Palou, which is why they are seeking compensation. He explained:

“ [We] paid a significant first payment toward his 2024 season, in addition to the millions of dollars toward developing him in our Formula 1 testing program and in his reserve driver role with a potential drive in F1 in the future.

“Unfortunately, it now appears our belief, commitment, investment, and trust in Alex was misplaced, as it is not being reciprocated.

“This is incredibly disappointing, considering the commitment (Alex) has made to us both directly and publicly and our significant investment in him based on that commitment. We dedicated a lot of time, money, and resources preparing to welcome Alex into our team because we believed in him and were looking forward to IndyCar wins with him.

“Coming out of his team dispute last fall, we were assured by Alex of his commitment to Arrow McLaren reflected in the contract he entered into with us.”