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McLaren Racing is suing IndyCar champion Alex Palou for at least $23 million to recoup prices the team says it lost when the driver subsidized the contract he signed to sign up for the team.
Palou, a 26-year-old Spaniard, has guaranteed he has “no notable obligations under any contract or agreement” that would save him from joining McLaren after the end of the IndyCar season, according to the Sept. 29 filing in the High Court. Commercial and Property Courts of England and Wales reviewed the 17-page dossier Tuesday.
The lawsuit is the latest twist in a nasty dispute involving the young, talented driver and two teams: McLaren, which said in July 2022 it had signed Palou and booked him for a seat in IndyCar and a reserve driver spot on its Formula 1 team. and Chip Ganassi Racing, which said it had its contractual rights for the 2023 season.
Palou and Ganassi initiated mediation and a year ago a solution was reached in which Palou would drive for Ganassi in 2023, but he could do some F1 jobs for McLaren if he didn’t interfere with IndyCar. He was able to participate in a test consultation last season. for McLaren, tested for the F1 team on track and in the simulator, and reserve driver for McLaren at the Miami F1 Grand Prix in May.
However, Zak Brown, chief executive of McLaren Racing, contacted him on August 8 and told him that Palou would not be joining McLaren. The document says lawyers told Brown that Palou signed a three-year extension with Ganassi, with whom he won the 2021 and 2023 championships. championships, until 2026.
Palou did not respond to messages seeking comment Tuesday. He told the AP last month that he had no talks with representatives of Brown or McLaren before the team reported it was not fulfilling McLaren’s contract. Palou also cut ties with the watchdog organisation that negotiated the deal with McLaren.
The roughly $23 million in damages claimed through McLaren are split between long-term sponsorship related to Palou’s arrival at McLaren, the costs of his use as F1 reserve driver, the amount spent through McLaren to expand Palou to F1 and a $400,000 down payment. McLaren is not seeking reimbursement of the legal fees it claims to have covered for Palou in last year’s fight with Ganassi.
The filing claims that after McLaren had already been informed that Palou was not fulfilling his contract with the team, a second letter from lawyers representing Palou falsely claimed that he had been promised a full-time seat in F1 and that because he was only going to be a driving force of the reserve is “a complete breakdown in the dating [] in order”.
McLaren booked a hotel room in Singapore two weeks ago for Palou in anticipation of his role as the team’s reserve driver this F1 weekend. Palou attended the race for McLaren.
Citing ongoing litigation, Palou has continually refused to comment on the situation this year, but attempted to remain silent last month at a media event before the end of the IndyCar season.
He indicated that he had never expressed interest in F1 before earning his name at IndyCar 2021 and that an opportunity arose to at least check out and qualify for the world racing series. But with only one reserve driver spot available, he said, he would prefer to stay in IndyCar. McLaren has signed Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri until at least 2025.
“If you take a look at my interviews up to 2021, I would say I didn’t focus at all on F1, and that’s surely true,” Palou said last month. “But things changed when I won the championship. I’m 24 years old. “I had just won my first major championship and if I see something and it goes wrong, then I can come back when I’m 27 and I’m still very young and I can still do it for 10 or 15 years.
“The door opened a little bit with McLaren. La opportunity is great, but there’s nothing else like, ‘You’ll have a car. ‘Maybe if I were 20, I would have waited, but I’m not 20. “I’m 26 years old. I don’t know anyone who has waited up to 30 years to get into Formula 1. “
McLaren says Palou has signed two contracts: the first with McLaren Racing as F1 reserve driver and a separate deal with Arrow McLaren to compete in IndyCar for the team while also serving as F1 replacement.
Among the damages claimed through McLaren is a loss of earnings of approximately $15. 5 million under formal partnership agreements with sponsors that stipulated Palou as the driver. The team said it also lost about $3. 5 million expected from third parties as a result of Palou’s involvement. in your testing program.
McLaren also needs to recoup all the money spent on Palou when it controls the driver, whether on track or in the simulator, and what it spends on finding a replacement.