Zak Brown points finger at Alex Palou for ‘unfair’ McLaren driver-burning reputation

Alex Palou celebrates pole position at Laguna Seca.

If it seems like many driver market dramas in both IndyCar and Formula 1 involve McLaren, that’s because McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown argues Alex Palou kicked off a domino effect that has shaken up racing grids all around the world.

Palou was set to sign with Arrow McLaren in IndyCar for the 2024 season but opted to remain with Chip Ganassi Racing instead — after previously splitting from CGR to sign for Arrow McLaren. According to Brown, Palou’s moves are directly responsible for the current driver market chaos.

Zak Brown: Palou “unfairly branded us as being difficult”

Speaking to Motorsport.com in an exclusive interview, Zak Brown elaborated on why his McLaren team has gained a reputation as being a challenging team to work with — and he pins the blame squarely on one driver.

“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,” Brown told Motorsport.com.

Brown elaborated further on what he meant by being a team that prizes its driver relationships.

“We brought Pato [O’Ward] into this sport, I’ve stuck with him,” Brown explained to Motorsport.com.

“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 [Siegel] a chance, a young American. We brought back Theo [Pourchaire].”

He called it “disappointing” that his team has ended up at the center of an ongoing contract controversy, saying, “I think we’ve got an unfair branding around this driver situation, and then you have some of the driver chime in.

“I know everyone likes to take a poke; I certainly like to take a poke. So, if you’re going to poke, you’ve got to be able to take it back.”

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But what exactly happened to cause this sheer level of chaos over at McLaren? Brown pins it on a series of “U-turns” made by Alex Palou that introduced some significant challenges to Arrow McLaren’s driver lineup.

Alex Palou joined IndyCar as a rookie with Dale Coyne Racing during the abbreviated 2020 season before being signed to top-tier team Chip Ganassi Racing the following year.

However, in July of 2022, Chip Ganassi Racing released a press release that stated Palou would drive for the team in IndyCar in 2023. Palou denied that this was the case; rather, he intended to join Arrow McLaren.

Shortly after, McLaren announced that it had signed Palou to its driver program — though it did not specify if Palou would join the IndyCar or Formula 1 program. As a result, CGR filed a lawsuit against Palou, which required Palou to remain with the team for 2023, then swap to McLaren in 2024.

However, in August of 2023, Palou told Brown that he had “no intention of honoring his contract” with McLaren, and that he would remain with CGR.

McLaren turned the tables by suing Palou for $23 million, citing the investments it had made in his future and in his sponsorships. Palou, meanwhile, argued that he had lost confidence in McLaren’s ability to get him a ride in Formula 1.

As you can imagine, all of that back-and-forth has created a challenging situation for Arrow McLaren’s IndyCar team, which had hedged its bets on Palou.

Since the Palou saga began, Arrow McLaren has signed and/or released Felix Rosenqvist, Callum Ilott, Nolan Siegel, Theo Pourchaire, and Alexander Rossi.

The fanbases of these respective drivers have largely vented their frustrations about their drivers’ futures, with a large part of the blame for their odd contracts being pinned on McLaren.

But ask Zak Brown, and the real reason for all these changes stems from that 2022 contract chaos with Alex Palou.

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