McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has recently revealed that Alex Palou has declined to commit to McLaren for the upcoming 2024 IndyCar season. Despite agreeing to do so before, Palou’s latest disagreement left Brown baffled as he now has to taste what Oscar Piastri made Alpine feel last year before his McLaren switch.
Brown in his statement also said that the Spanish driver received an advance of $569,600 in salary for the next season. Despite that, the driver has decided not to honor his contract.
🚨 | Alex Palou tells McLaren he has “no intention of honoring” his IndyCar contact!
This suggests Palou is in talks for a 2024 F1 seat. Earlier, Alphatauri and Williams have been rumored to be his options.#AlexPalou #DesiRacingCo #McLaren pic.twitter.com/iKhDuREcSH
— Desi Racing Co. (@DesiRacingco) August 12, 2023
The 26-year-old is currently racing in IndyCar for Chip Ganassi Racing. He was due to join the British team following the conclusion of the 2023 IndyCar season. However, with a few months to go, Palou has now made himself unavailable to McLaren.
Palou’s decision on McLaren left Brown furious
According to Associated Press, Palou decided not to join McLaren’s IndyCar team only to fulfill his F1 ambitions. This was one of the reasons why he resorted to legal means before he could leave Chip Ganassi Racing. Consequently, it was decided that he will have to stay with CGR till the end of the 2023 season, but can fulfill his lifelong dream thereafter.
However, with the Spanish driver not ready to ‘honor’ his contract, Brown said on this, “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.”
Smooth moves.🕺⁰⁰@AlexPalou drove his way from P15 to P2. ⁰⁰#INDYCAR // #IndyTO pic.twitter.com/GNlxtFG8EM
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) July 17, 2023
The McLaren CEO also added, “This is incredibly disappointing considering the commitment he has made to us both directly and publicly. And our significant investment in him based on that commitment.”
This comes after the 26-year-old spent a decent amount of time with the McLaren F1 team. The Woking-based outfit even spent a huge amount of money on developing him. Ironically, this is a repeat of Oscar Piastri’s saga with Alpine and McLaren from last year. The only difference is Brown and McLaren are at the receiving end this time.
Palou and his F1 ambitions
Alex Palou’s name has been featured heavily in the F1 community lately. Multiple reports stated that he was even considered to replace Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri until Daniel Ricciardo filled in.
Considering all this, Brown even affirmed that Palou will have the reserve driver role at the McLaren F1 team this season. Unfortunately, in the end, the IndyCar driver decided against joining them.
Notably, Alex Palou also mentioned that he does not have any F1 plans as of now. It is not known how much of that is true. In the end, he is currently enjoying his IndyCar days and closing in on his second IndyCar title in three seasons with Chip Ganassi Racing.
