02/27/26 08:52:00
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02/27 08:22 CST Alex Palou and Chip Ganassi Racing end McLaren contract fight
after $12 million ruling
Alex Palou and Chip Ganassi Racing end McLaren contract fight after $12 million
ruling
By JENNA FRYER
AP Auto Racing Writer
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) --- Alex Palou and Chip Ganassi Racing have settled
the four-time IndyCar champion's breach of contract dispute with McLaren
Racing, and the Spanish driver acknowledged Friday he mishandled the situation.
Palou in January was ordered by London's High Court to pay McLaren more than
$12 million after a five-week trial in which the F1 team proved he backed out
of two different deals with the racing team.
The team was initially seeking closer to $30 million and said after the ruling
it would still pursue legal fees from Palou.
Ahead of the first practice in the IndyCar season, Ganassi said the case had
been settled.
"I'm happy to confirm that we have reached a final settlement with McLaren
Racing following a UK judge ruling in January," Ganassi said in a statement.
"I cannot condone what happened and I'm glad the matter is over. With the
benefit of hindsight, I hope Alex has learned it's important to keep good
people around him, which he now does, so the events of 2023 are never repeated."
It is not clear if Ganassi was on the hook for any of Palou's financial
penalties from the fight that began in 2023 when he signed a contract to move
to McLaren.
Ganassi said it held the contractual rights on Palou for 2024 and he remained
with CGR that year while he was also a reserve driver for McLaren's Formula 1
team.
Palou was expected to move to McLaren's IndyCar team in 2025 but did an
about-face and decided to stay at Ganassi, where he has won three consecutive
championships and four of the last five.
Palou acknowledged in his own statement that he followed poor management advice
at the time and said McLaren boss Zak Brown did nothing wrong.
Palou had previously maintained he was misled into thinking he had a chance at
one of McLaren's F1 seats and reversed his decision to leave Ganassi when
McLaren signed Oscar Piastri to its team.
"I found myself pulled in various directions and had the wrong people around me
back then who I believe did not have my best interests at heart," Palou said.
"I believe back then that I was provided with the wrong advice or no advice at
all. In hindsight, had I reached out to Zak directly, perhaps things may have
played out differently.
"McLaren and Zak supported me in many ways, they fulfilled every obligation,
went above and beyond and delivered on everything they said in their contracts.
I was never misled by McLaren and very much respect their organization."
McLaren has won the last two constructors' championships in F1 and Lando Norris
added the drivers' title last season. But, in IndyCar, Ganassi has had the
superior team and Palou did not want to leave for what he perceived as a lesser
ride in that series once he felt he had no opening into F1.
Brown thanked his legal team for the work it has done since Palou's attorneys
informed him in the middle of 2025 that Palou was staying with Ganassi. Palou
refused to personally speak to Brown --- on the advice of his management ---
and the unprofessionalism partly drove Brown to doggedly fight the breach of
contract.
"Pleased we can now return to battling things out on track," Brown said, "and
focus on what's set to be an exciting IndyCar season."
___
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
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