McLaren legal case sees Zak Brown in court days after F1 championship success

McLaren CEO Zak Brown was in court just two days after his team's stunning constructors' championship success at the Singapore Grand Prix, as part of a legal case against a former driver.

McLaren's F1 team secured success for the second season in a row, but this time with six events left in the season, as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri managed third and fourth place respectively in Singapore.

But earlier this week, Brown was brought back down to earth with a bump, when the celebrations were put on ice for him and he had other business to attend to, being the CEO of the wider McLaren Racing group.

Brown appeared in court as part of a legal claim being made by McLaren against former driver Alex Palou, who opted to stay with Chip Ganassi Racing at the end of the 2023 season, rather than join McLaren.

In 2022, an agreement had been reached between the three parties that Palou could stay with Chip Ganassi in IndyCar for 2023 despite contradicting statements from both teams, but that he would become a part of McLaren's talent pool and join the team for 2024.

Brown alleges that Palou then told him that he had 'no intention of honouring his contract', and opted to stay with Chip Ganassi Racing instead, where he has won four of the last five IndyCar championships.

McLaren are trying to sue Palou for around £17million in UK commercial courts, in an attempt to recoup investments made in Palou, including future sponsorship revenue tied to Palou joining McLaren, McLaren's cost when Palou was the test driver in 2023, the cost of finding a replacement for Palou, and his reported £300,000 advanced 2024 salary.

The court case commenced last week, with Brown giving his side of the story earlier this week, with courtroom sketches depicting the high-profile motorsport lawsuit.

Palou's career

Despite the very public falling out with McLaren, Palou did get some experience in an F1 car, including in an official timed session.

Palou took part in FP1 at the 2022 United States GP for McLaren, and also took to the track several times in tests, as part of the testing of previous cars programme.

As well as being a four-time IndyCar champion, Palou also raced in F3, F2, Super GT and Super Formula during his early days as a racer.

He is now 28 years old, and has admitted that he believes his chances of breaking into F1 now to be slim, despite rumours earlier this year linking him with a move to Red Bull.

Those rumours were strongly denied by both Palou and Red Bull themselves.

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