Report: McLaren Prodigy Taken to Court Over Unusual IndyCar Mishap

This is not the news McLaren was expecting! The Woking-based team recently announced that they had added IndyCar champion Álex Palou to their ever-growing driver roster. As the Spanish driver is among the most sought-after talents in the IndyCar series, it was quite a coup that McLaren was able to get his signature.

But it has recently come to the knowledge of the fans that the IndyCar champion still has a contract with the Chip Ganassi Racing team. The situation is even more alarming as the British team recently announced that Palou will race for the Arrow-McLaren SP team in the 2023 season.

The Chip Ganassi Racing Team has reportedly sued the Spanish driver for his breach of contract. But according to F1 journalist Joe Saward, the situation is even worse for the driver, as McLaren has stated that they will not interfere in the matter.

“This has turned very messy with Palou’s employer – Ganassi – saying that he cannot leave because it has an option on his services and that this has been taken up. Rosenqvist can be offloaded into the McLaren Formula E team while the Palou deal seems to have gone haywire with Ganassi filing a law suit against the driver. McLaren says that it won’t pay for Palou to get out of a deal it did not know about. Oh boy…” said Saward.

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It was only a couple of weeks ago when Zak Brown announced he was ecstatic that the 2021 IndyCar champion was joining them.

McLaren CEO comments on the addition of Alex Palou to the team

The McLaren CEO had big plans for the IndyCar champion when he joined the British team. He even revealed that the constructor would give him a chance to drive the F1 car in the future.

“We have always said that we want the best talent at McLaren, and it’s exciting to be able to include Alex on that list. I’m also looking forward to seeing him get behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car as part of our Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) program alongside Pato O’Ward and Colton Herta as we continue to build our driver talent,” said Brown.

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Palou was recently touted as a possible replacement for Daniel Ricciardo in the F1 team. However, it looks like he might fight for his place in the McLaren family altogether if Chip Ganassi wins the lawsuit.