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November 14, 2025
In the latest Alex Palou McLaren contract lawsuit hearing at London’s High Court, the IndyCar champion revealed he was “upset and angry” after finding out the Formula 1 team had signed Oscar Piastri.
Central to the testimony was Palou’s assertion that McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown misled him about the status and prospects of his F1 career.
The Spanish driver claims that Brown told him one thing but the actual team decisions moved in a completely different direction, a point that has become a pivotal issue in the ongoing legal battle.
The case revolves around a contract that Palou signed with McLaren on March 4, 2022, which was supposed to see him driving for the IndyCar team from 2023 to 2025, with a potential pathway into Formula 1 in 2024 as a reserve driver offering him time to build F1 experience.
However, by late 2022, the Woking-based outfit unexpectedly signed rookie F1 driver Oscar Piastri who was announced as Lando Norris’s teammate for the 2023 season, a move that blindsided Palou and significantly disrupted his ambitions.
Palou testified that he was “very upset, worried, and angry” upon hearing of the Piastri deal, a deal he had believed would not be at his expense or influence his own F1 future with McLaren.
According to Palou, Brown had assured him that the hiring of Piastri was not his decision but that of the then team principal Andreas Seidl, suggesting a lack of control on Brown’s part and giving the driver false hope that his own F1 prospects remained intact.
“When testing with McLaren, Zak told me he believed we could make it happen, and that he would give me all the preparation I needed to get to F1,” Palou said in court. “At the time I thought he was genuine.”
“I went for dinner with Zak near MTC [McLaren Technology Centre]. Zak told me it was not his decision to hire Oscar. He said it was the decision of [then] team manager Andreas Seidl.
“Zak told me Piastri’s performance would be evaluated against mine for 2024. Zak said that, from his point of view, my chance of getting the F1 seat was not affected by Oscar.
“However, I knew everything had changed. From that point on, I started to be more willing to stay with CGR in the future.”
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The fallout from the broken assurances led Palou to decide to remain with Chip Ganassi Racing in IndyCar rather than honor his signed commitment to McLaren’s IndyCar program.
“I was very upset, worried and angry that McLaren had signed another rookie driver other than me,” he added. “I asked MIM (Monaco Increase Management) 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.”
The lawsuit alleges that Palou breached his contract, causing the company significant financial losses including lost sponsorship revenue and promotional costs associated with their driver lineup adjustments.
McLaren insists that Palou’s contract was clear and binding for the 2024 to 2026 seasons in IndyCar, and that his withdrawal has cost the team both financially and in terms of sporting opportunity.
Adding further fuel to the dispute, Palou’s legal team presented evidence suggesting McLaren staff may have deleted internal WhatsApp messages, potentially to shield themselves from liabilities connected to the contract rift—a claim that McLaren’s CEO Zak Brown categorically denied during his testimony.
Brown acknowledged the lawsuit is a significant case but denied misleading Palou or making any formal commitments regarding a 2024 F1 seat.
He described Palou’s F1 opportunity as conditional and optional, never guaranteed, characterizing the plan as a backup if existing drivers were unavailable or if Piastri failed to meet expectations.
“I told him what the opportunities would be in F1,” said Brown. “I never told him he would be under consideration.
“I never strung along Alex. I never told him he would be under consideration for 2023. There was some optionality to join F1.”
The Alex Palou McLaren contract lawsuit will continue on Friday, 10 October with cross-examination. The trial is expected to come to a close in November with a decision reached by the judge later.
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