British stone. PETERSBURG (AP) — Alex Palu and Chip Ganassi Racing have resolved the four-time IndyCar champion’s breach of contract dispute with McLaren, with the Spanish driver admitting on Friday that he mishandled the situation.
Palau was ordered by London’s High Court in January to pay McLaren more than $12 million following a five-week trial. At trial, the F1 team testified that Palau had withdrawn from two different agreements with the racing team.
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The team initially sought closer to $30 million and said it would still charge Palau legal fees after the ruling.
Before the first practice session of the IndyCar season, Ganassi said the case had been settled.
“I am pleased to confirm that we have reached a final settlement with McLaren following the UK judge’s ruling in January,” Ganassi said in a statement.
“I can’t condone what happened and I’m glad it’s over. In hindsight, I hope Alex has learned it’s important to keep good people by his side and he has done so now so that the events of 2023 are not repeated.”
It is unclear whether Ganassi was financially punished for the fight that began when Palau signed a contract to move to McLaren in 2023.
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Ganassi said it held Palu’s contract rights until 2024, when he remained at CGR and was also a reserve driver for the McLaren Formula One team.
Palau was due to move to McLaren IndyCar in 2025, but did a U-turn and decided to stay in Ganassi, where he has won three consecutive championships and four of the last five.
Palu admitted in his own statement that he followed poor management advice at the time and said McLaren boss Zac Brown had done nothing wrong.
Palu has previously insisted he was misled into thinking he had a chance at one of McLaren’s F1 seats and reversed his decision to leave Ganassi after McLaren added Oscar Piastri to its F1 team.
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“I found myself being pulled in different directions and I was surrounded by the wrong people at the time and I believed they didn’t have my best interests at heart,” Palu said.
“I believe I was given the wrong advice at the time, or no advice at all. In hindsight, maybe things might have played out differently if I had contacted Zach directly.
“McLaren and Zach have supported me in many ways and have met every obligation, going above and beyond and delivering on everything they said in the contract. I have never been misled by McLaren and have great respect for their organization.”
McLaren has won F1’s last two constructors’ titles and Lando Norris added the drivers’ title last season. However, Ganassi had a good team in IndyCar and once Palu felt he had no chance of making it to F1, he didn’t want to leave because of what he saw as inferior performance in the series.
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