IndyCar star makes court claim over McLaren team decisions

IndyCar's most dominant champion in over a decade has opened up on the 'anger' and 'hurt' he felt over a team's decision-making.

Alex Palou had been expected to move to McLaren for the 2024 season, but backed out of that contract to remain at Chip Ganassi Racing and is currently embroiled in the legal fallout from that choice.

One aspect which came up in court this week was his unhappiness with the team's signing of Oscar Piastri to their F1 operation for the 2023 season, with suggestions now raised that McLaren CEO Zak Brown told Palou that Piastri's signing wasn't his decision.

In 2023, Palou was McLaren's reserve driver alongside his IndyCar duties with Ganassi, and had taken part in FP1 at the 2022 United States Grand Prix, with a future seat in F1 looking to be on the horizon.

His relationship with McLaren broke down, however, and the man who has won four of the last five IndyCar championships was in court last week alongside McLaren boss Brown as the team begin legal action against the Spaniard, trying to reclaim money that they allegedly invested in him.

In his witness statement in court, Palou revealed that the signing of Piastri was a bitter blow to his hopes of joining the F1 grid, but suggested that Brown admitted that the decision was not anything to do with him.

"I was very upset, worried and angry that McLaren had signed another rookie driver other than me," Palou said, as reported by Motorsport Magazine. "I asked Monaco Increase Management (MIM) to speak to Zak to ask what was going on.

"On September 22 they had a conversation with Zak, and Zak had told them they needed someone who would be quick in 2023, but that this would not interfere with my chances to get into F1.

"Zak told me that it wasn't him who decided to hire Oscar, but Andreas Seidl. He assured me that my chances weren't affected, but I knew everything had changed."

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Piastri's McLaren career

Andreas Seidl was McLaren's team principal at the time, and according to Palou's statement, was heavily involved in the signing of Piastri, with Brown being CEO of the wider McLaren Racing brand and dealing with all of McLaren's racing operations, not just F1.

Since joining McLaren, Piastri has claimed nine grands prix victories, and currently sits atop the 2025 drivers' championship.

As he hunts a maiden title, Piastri is 22 points ahead of his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris, with the championship battle set to go down to the wire with six race weekends remaining in the season.

READ MORE: IndyCar boss slams 'CLICKBAIT' story linking champion with F1 move

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