Multi-million dollar lawsuit against IndyCar champion Alex Palou hits court

An ongoing legal dispute between McLaren and IndyCar champion Alex Palou finally hit the courtroom on Monday.

The saga began after Palou had signed to join the team in 2023, which, as it turned out, had put him in breach of his Chip Ganassi Racing contract.

After mediation, the move was deferred until 2024, only for Palou to back out of the switch altogether towards the back end of the 2023 campaign. Later, in a court document, he would reveal that this was due to losing trust and confidence that McLaren supported his ambition to race in F1.

Palou admitted during his championship speech this year 'I [made] some really bad decisions, and I was a little bit of an idiot', but his lawyers are claiming that McLaren's claim for losses – $19.7 million to cover lost sponsorships and the cost of other drivers' salaries – is hugely overinflated.

In the filings, McLaren claim that Palou's contract breach meant they had to increase Pato O’Ward's salary by $5.1 million from 2024-27 to keep him as an 'A-level' driver and F1 reserve as a condition of their own partnership with Chevrolet, and lost over $20 million as part of a sponsorship deal for their IndyCar and F1 teams which was based around Palou, and had to be reworked when he backed out.

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Palou looking forward to ending legal case

The civil case is being heard at the Commercial Court in London, and speaking Fox Sports, Palou admitted he can't wait for it to be done with.

"It’s about time, right? It's good that it's going to end this year. And I obviously don't know how everything is going to play out or how it's going to go," he admitted.

"It’s my first time [in court], so you don't really know what to expect. But I'm happy that it'll be the first Christmas in a long time that it's been [without this drama]."

Palou also revealed that the push and pull between Ganassi and McLaren had impacted him on track, saying: "The first year in ’22 … that was really, really bad getting on track and more in my mind.

"It’s been so long now that I think I've been able to just get it on the side and, as you say, and not worry. Well, worry but not be overthinking and just let my team figure it out."

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