Earlier this year, Alex Palou angered Zak Brown and the entire McLaren team by snubbing them for Chip Ganassi Racing. Palou, who was set to join McLaren’s IndyCar outfit from 2024 onwards, decided to stay back at his current team instead. Brown, who is now furious at Palou’s lack of commitment, will seek $30,000,000 from him, as the American boss sues the Spanish driver, as reported by GP Blog.
Palou has been sandwiched between Chip Ganassi and McLaren for well over a year now. The Spaniard, was initially adamant about leaving his current team, with whom he became a two-time IndyCar champion. However, the Indianapolis-based team sued him, and it was McLaren who helped Palou come out on top in this battle.
In a shocking turn of events, Palou decided to betray the ones who stood by him by committing to Ganassi for 2024. Brown and McLaren, are now set on getting themselves immersed in a legal battle with Palou for not honoring his contract, which he signed in 2022.
McLaren looking to make things difficult for Alex Palou
McLaren considered Palou to be one of their future stars. It was always going to be difficult for him to get into F1. Still, the Woking-based outfit gave him a shot. He was behind the wheel of their car during FP1 at the 2022 US GP in Austin. Palou also took their car out for a spin earlier this year in Hungaroring, for a test.
Now, the relationship between Palou and McLaren seems to irreparable. In fact, the Spaniard has to appear in front of court, after the British team sued him. According to IndyStar, as reported by GP Blog, McLaren aren’t ready to let this slide for cheap either.
IndyStar reports that McLaren and Brown want somewhere between $20,000,000 and $30,000,000 from Palou. This won’t a cheap amount for Palou to pay off, but McLaren are considering a lot of things – including the fact that they assisted him in leaving Chip Ganassi in the first place – into account.
Why does Palou have to pay $30,000,000?
The verdict of the trial is still a long way from being final. However, McLaren have gone in with all guns blazing. They invested a lot in Palou’s future, as they do with all their young drivers. Running a junior program is never cheap, and costs millions of dollars.
For his McLaren will demand a heavy amount from Palou. They allowed him to take part in two test programs, which a lot of other young talented stars often miss out due to the tough competition.
Also, in addition to the legal costs they bore, McLaren also got a lot of sponsors on board, with the promise that Palou – a two-time IndyCar champion – would drive for them. Not fulfilling that promise would mean losing out on many millions of dollars. As a result, the $30,000,000 compensation fee was deemed fair by lawyers of the team from Surrey.
