Months After Oscar Piastri Fiasco, Zak Brown Swallows a Bitter Pill as McLaren Prodigy Brings Life Full Circle

One of the biggest fights in recent Formula 1 history happened just over a year ago. No, it wasn’t an on-track championship battle or anything. Instead, it was a tug-of-war for racing prodigy Oscar Piastri between Alpine and McLaren. After winning consecutive F3 and F2 championships in 2020 and 2021, Alpine signed the young Aussie into its driver program, making him the team’s reserve driver for 2022. Considering the investment and time Alpine had put into him when Fernando Alonso announced his departure, the Enstone team announced Piastri as its 2023 driver. Or so it thought because Piastri had other plans.

Piastri took to Twitter to write, “I will not be driving for Alpine next year,” a month after which Zak Brown and McLaren officially announced Piastri would drive for the Papaya team from 2023. Now that the saga has settled, Brown’s life has come full circle in the worst possible way, and it concerns another motorsport prodigy. Who is it? IndyCar driver Alex Palou.

Zak Brown got a taste of his own medicine

Since his IndyCar debut in 2020, Spanish driver Alex Palou has been making waves in the series, so much so that when Chip Ganassi Racing signed him for the 2021 season, he narrowly edged out Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward for his maiden title. Zak Brown and McLaren were impressed and signed him to join the Arrow McLaren team for 2024. The Papaya team announced him for its Testing of Previous Cars program and made him the F1 team’s reserve driver this season. With Brown confident Palou would be racing for him next season, he wouldn’t have seen what was coming next.

After a contract controversy with Ganassi last year, Palou has done it again with McLaren. The Spaniard backed out of McLaren’s deal and revealed—in Piastri fashion—he won’t be driving for them in 2024. As a response, Brown sent a letter to his Arrow McLaren employees, as reported by Associated Press, saying, “This is incredibly disappointing considering the commitment [Palou] has made to us both directly and publicly and our significant investment in him based on that commitment.”

He added, “We dedicated a lot of time, money, and resources preparing to welcome Alex into our team because we believed in him and were looking forward to IndyCar wins with him. Coming out of his team dispute last fall, we were assured by Alex of his commitment to Arrow McLaren reflected in the contract he entered into with us.”

Read More: “A Dog Eat Dog World”: Ugly Brawl Between Zak Brown & Otmar Szafnauer for Oscar Piastri Sullies F1’s Image

Well, Brown definitely did not see this coming. Besides losing his services in IndyCar, Brown could also lose him to other F1 teams.

Zak Brown dealt with another blow regarding Alex Palou’s McLaren future

Palou’s future with McLaren in IndyCar has been decided, but considering he’s still the Woking outfit’s reserve driver, he’ll be sticking around for at least this season. With every driver aiming to reach the pinnacle of motorsport, Palau is no different; sooner rather than later, he would want to make his F1 debut. It’s doubtful that it’ll be with McLaren, given how he disrespected his contract, but other teams might be interested in him. 

With most seats occupied till the end of 2024, his only options might be Williams, AlphaTauri, Haas, or Alfa Romeo. According to Sports Illustrated, Haas and Alfa are happy with their current line-ups and aren’t looking for replacements. But with AlphaTauri and Daniel Ricciardo‘s future uncertain and Logan Sargeant’s seat in danger, Palou is reported to have already had talks with them.

How do you think Zak Brown is feeling right now, considering he was on the receiving end of his actions from last season this time around?

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