Mclaren’s worst nightmare is on the verge of coming true. They have only just become a championship contender in F1 and driver trouble seems imminent. We aren’t talking about a rift between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris but about IndyCar’s Alex Palou. Their legal battle against the Spaniard began in 2023 when he snubbed their IndyCar contract, similar to what Piastri did with Alpine. But this time, there’s a different twist which will only further sour the relations.

Alex Palou has been swinging between legal battles in the last 3 years. When he signed for Arrow McLaren in 2022, Chip Ganassi Racing, who he was under contract with, filed a lawsuit against its own driver. After some mediation between the teams, the 2x IndyCar champion was set to continue with Ganassi in 2023, as he did. But to McLaren CEO Zak Brown’s surprise, he dishonored their contract to continue with Ganassi in 2024 too. A war of words ensued in the media, and legal proceedings of this high-profile case are still ongoing in the UK High Court.

As recent as last week, Zak Brown highlighted how the case is “going to go the distance, 100%, and I think it’ll end up probably be sometime late next year.” But amid this McLaren-Ganassi storm, a third team wants to get their hands dirty. Audi (currently Sauber), which was dead set on signing Carlos Sainz as their lead driver, is reportedly eyeing the soon-to-be 3-time IndyCar champion for their F1 endeavors after the Ferrari driver rejected their offer to join Williams. The German manufacturers have already signed Nico Hulkenberg from Haas and are actively scouting his future teammate.

As per Soymotor, the Mattia Binotto-led Audi hasn’t had any talks with Palou. But the Spaniard remains a viable option alongside Alpine’s Mick Schumacher and Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas. If this switch indeed goes through, McLaren’s management will be nothing short of furious. As far as their current efforts go, a PR resurrection is in process.

Zak Brown laments McLaren’s “unfair branding” in IndyCar

McLaren‘s driver stability in F1 is more than decent. While the second seat has seen 4 different takers in the last decade, Lando Norris has stayed happily loyal since 2019. However, their IndyCar line-up has been rather volatile, with 6 drivers coming in and out for 3 seats in the last 2 years. In light of the Alex Palou situation, Zak Brown described how the team has gotten an “unfair branding around this driver situation.”

Defending their driver changes, the American told Motorsport, “But we brought Pato (O’Ward) into this sport. I’ve stuck with him. Alex Palou, we had a contract, we did our part. That created this domino effect. Alex (Rossi) saw through his contract. We’re giving Nolan a chance, a young American. We brought back Theo for (Toronto, to replace the injured Rossi),” he added, explaining the unfortunate circumstances of injury and controversies.

He believed that if not for the Palou lawsuit, the volatility might not have been that big in the media. “Unfortunately, this Palou situation has kind of unfairly branded us as being difficult and ‘we’re tough on drivers’ when, actually, I think our relationship with our drivers is one of our greatest strengths,” he concluded.

Alex Palou being en route to win his 3rd IndyCar championship this year is an insult to injury for Brown. Arrow McLaren’s Pat O’Ward is P5 in the standings, 71 points short of the Chip Ganassi Racing driver. Interestingly, in F1, McLaren’s lead, Lando Norris trails championship leader Max Verstappen by a similar margin: 78 points. In both championships, McLaren needs consistently picture-perfect performances to win. Hopefully, their off-court drama won’t affect the drivers and team leaders.