IndyCar’s silly season has entered it’s next chapter with (yet another) lawsuit against Álex Palou. The Catalan Chip Ganassi driver was believed to have signed a contract with Arrow McLaren, but in a company letter McLaren CEO Zak Brown informed the team that Palou “does not intend to honor his contractual obligations.”
In a subsequent move first reported by Indystar, McLaren Racing Limited and McLaren Indy, LLC (the corporation behind Arrow McLaren) have jointly taken Palou and his racing entity ALPA Racing USA, LLC to court in the UK Commercial Court. The case against Palou himself was filed last Wednesday, while the case against ALPA Racing was filed the Friday before, the day Zak Brown informed the team via his letter.
That letter also revealed that Palou had signed a contract with McLaren Racing to race for Arrow McLaren in 2024, next to his contract as an Formula 1 reserve driver. The letter further revealed that the team had “paid [Palou] 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.”
Brown continued: “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.”
The lawsuits were filed by lawfirm Morgan Lewis & Bockius as so-called Part 7 claims, which means that McLaren is seeking compensation from Palou.
In a response to the Indystar, Zak Brown stated that they keep their focus on the remainder of season and put their faith in the judicial system in regard to this situation.
“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 on the final races this season and on our plans for 2024, which we’ll announce once we’re ready.”
Palou’s management stated that the current championship leader “is solely focused on winning the championship and finishing the season on a super high note, and once that’s done, we hope to provide more information once everything is clear.”
