Zak Brown reveals Lando Norris got McLaren seat after paying for F1 chance

Lando Norris has been a star of the McLaren F1 team since 2019, and is currently in contention for his maiden drivers' championship victory.

But just like any driver, Norris was once a rookie, and documents from McLaren’s court case against IndyCar champion Alex Palou have revealed the shocking figure some rookies pay to take part in an F1 free practice session.

McLaren Racing are currently suing Palou for around $20 million in a case which is set to run until next month, after the now 28-year-old pulled out of a move to the team three years ago and stayed with the Chip Ganassi Racing team in IndyCar instead.

McLaren are claiming financial damages from Palou's choice to walk away from the deal, and in the process, the fact that Norris reportedly paid during his junior career has also come to light.

A recent report from Motorsport Magazine revealed that during the court proceedings, McLaren CEO Zak Brown said, 'even Lando Norris' paid to be part of the F1 team until finally securing his full-time seat for the 2019 campaign.

How much does an F1 rookie practice session reportedly cost?

As of 2025, the number of mandatory practice drivers a team must give to a rookie in place of one of their drivers has increased. Instead of fielding a rookie in each of their cars at least once during practice sessions throughout a season, that increased to twice per car.

After impressing McLaren during tests as their reserve driver, Norris was handed his first opportunity to take part in an F1 practice session in 2018, stepping in for two-time champion Fernando Alonso in FP1 at Spa.

Norris' junior opportunities were not explicitly mentioned in the financial breakdown of an FP1/FP2 session, but the court case has highlighted just how pricey it can get for young drivers desperate for their chance in F1.

Motorsport Magazine reported that court papers revealed Haas reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa paid Brown's F1 squad $3.5m (£2.6m) ahead of his FP1 outing at the 2024 Abu Dhabi GP, with two ‘Testing of Previous Cars’ (TPC) sessions also included as preparation for the rookie outing.

In the process of breaking down their claim that Palou’s IndyCar decision cost McLaren ‘wasted expenditure’, the team provided a figure of $703,000 (£520,000) that they claim to have spent on two F1 TPC sessions for Palou, who also took part in an FP1 session at the 2022 US GP.

Palou was set to drive in further sessions until he announced that he would breach his contract with the team in August 2023. His lawyers have argued that McLaren’s claim should be reduced as a result of receiving a fee for selling off one of the October 2023 TPC slots that was originally assigned to Palou.

Motorsport Magazine went on to report that Hirakawa and Toyota paid $1,068,917 (£805,000) for one TPC event, almost £300,000 more than McLaren says it cost to run Palou in two TPC events.

The cost was part of a $3.5m package that included a further TPC run, and the Abu Dhabi GP FP1 session.

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