Evidence destroying allegations, leaked texts: McLaren v Alex Palou lawsuit heats up in court

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has hit the stand to offer his testimony in an ongoing lawsuit against IndyCar champion Alex Palou regarding a contractual dispute.

Brown was accused of deleting evidence in the form of WhatsApp messages as part of the team’s ongoing pursuit of $20.7m in damages against the Spanish driver.

Why is McLaren suing Alex Palou?

In 2022, rising IndyCar star Alex Palou signed a contract with McLaren Racing that would have seen him depart Chip Ganassi Racing for the papaya team in the American open-wheel series; part of that deal was a suggestion that Palou would be heavily considered for a Formula 1 seat in the future.

However, Chip Ganassi Racing disputed the move as it activated an option to retain Palou for the 2023 season. CGR took Palou to court, and the two settled behind closed doors. As a result, the Spaniard remained with the team, where he has since won further IndyCar championships.

This triggered a countersuit in which McLaren alleged that Palou’s backtracking cost the team an estimated $20.7 million in damages, including the $400,000 signing bonus (that Palou repaid to the team) as well as the loss of sponsorship dollars and the team’s need to promote Pato O’Ward to its Formula 1 test program.

That suit is currently being heard in front of a London court, with Zak Brown taking the stand over the past two days for deeply revealing testimony.

More on the McLaren v. Alex Palou lawsuit:

👉 Major financial details revealed in $30 million McLaren lawsuit against Alex Palou

👉 McLaren at centre of legal action against former driver as London court case begins

Zak Brown on the stand in McLaren v. Palou lawsuit

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has hit the stand in the High Court of London over the past two days to offer testimony related to this suit.

Palou’s counsel Nick De Marco quizzed Brown on what he positioned as Brown’s making “false promises of F1 glory” to drivers like Palou before ultimately “shafting them” by choosing to fill an F1 seat with a different driver.

De Marco argued that Palou signed a contract with McLaren under the promise of moving to Formula 1, only to discover that the team had signed long-term deals with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

Brown stated that “I never strung along Alex. I never told him he would be under consideration for 2023… there was some optionality to join F1.” Further, he claimed that signing Piastri on a long-term deal with Palou waiting in the wings was a ‘Plan B’, while ‘Plan C’ represented Palou taking over Piastri’s seat should the rookie fail to live up to the team’s standards.

Further, Brown alleged that Palou’s presence on the team was a prerequisite for sponsor NTT Data to ink a deal with McLaren.

“NTT entered into negotiations in the first place because they knew Alex was coming to McLaren, and the amount they were willing to pay was based on Alex driving for us,” Brown explained to the court.

“Had there been a less experienced driver, or a driver that was not as good, the price we agreed with NTT would not have been as high as it eventually was, or they may have decided not to partner with us at all.”

“We should have been focusing on track performance and finding new sponsors, but you cannot focus on that when you do not know who will be in your car.”

Further, Brown alleged that Palou “effectively rolled a grenade into the room and let it go off, leaving me to deal with the consequences with our sponsors” when he backed out of the deal.

Yet Brown’s testimony was complicated by allegations that McLaren destroyed evidence that could be critical in the case.

A series of WhatsApp messages were brought before the court, with one from former McLaren IndyCar team manager Gavin Ward telling a contact that McLaren required its members to use WhatsApp’s seven-day disappearing message function in order to “cover their ass on lawsuits”.

Additionally, a message in which Brown told recipients to use WhatsApp and delete exchanges was displayed; that message dated back to August 2023, just before Palou opted to remain with Chip Ganassi Racing.

In response to allegations from De Marco that Brown utilized the disappearing messages feature to “destroy evidence,” Brown explained that utilizing the disappearing messages function was company policy. He further reaffirmed that he was “compliant in preserving documents associated with this case.”

The case is ongoing, with Palou expected to take the stand on Thursday, October 9.

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