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Runaway IndyCar Series leader Alex Palou is once again embroiled in a bitter contract dispute, with McLaren this time claiming to be the spurned party.
A letter from McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown to its IndyCar team on Friday (local time) states that the Spaniard has “no intention of honoring his contract” with the organisation which has fielded him in Formula 1 testing this year, reports the United States’ Associated Press.
Weight has since been given to that claim with a blunt statement from what is apparently now Palou’s former management team.
“Monaco Increase Management is bitterly disappointed to learn about Alex Palou’s decision to break an existing agreement with McLaren for 2024 and beyond,” read a statement which it issued on Saturday (local time).
“Together, we had built a relationship that we thought went beyond any contractual obligation and culminated in winning the 2021 IndyCar crown and tracing a path to F1 opportunities.
“Life goes on and we wish Alex all the best for his future achievements.”
In a bizarre legal dispute, CGR sued Palou for breach of contract during his fight for last year’s IndyCar title.
A resolution was announced days after the 2022 season finale, with the Spaniard remaining in the #10 Honda for this year’s IndyCar season but also joining McLaren’s Formula 1 operation as a test/reserve driver.
Since then, it has been widely believed that Palou would fully extricate himself from CGR after the current season, to join McLaren’s IndyCar team, its F1 team, or another F1 team.
He is now the subject of another tug-of-war.
Brown’s aforementioned letter to his team reportedly reads, “This is incredibly disappointing, considering the commitment [Alex] has made to us both directly and publicly and our significant investment in him based on that commitment.
“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 [McLaren’s IndyCar team] reflected in the contract he entered into with us.”
McLaren would subsequently issue a statement to media on Brown’s behalf which reads, “I’m extremely disappointed that Alex Palou does not intend to honor his contractual obligations to race with us in IndyCar in 2024 and beyond.
“That’s all I have to say on the topic for the time being.”
How McLaren’s position squares with a clause in Palou’s CGR contract which reportedly prohibits him from negotiations with other teams before September 1 of this year, and whether or not that clause was waived during last year’s wrangle, is unclear.
According to Indianapolis newspaper IndyStar, he is understood to have a get-out clause in his McLaren contract should he have received an offer for a 2024 F1 seat by July 31.
The 26-year-old told media earlier this week that he had no such offer.
At this stage, McLaren Racing has not confirmed or ruled out taking legal action against Palou, who has re-engaged former manager Roger Yasukawa.
The 2021 IndyCar champion has won four races this year and took a sizeable, 84-point series lead into this weekend’s Indianapolis event.
