Zak Brown, the CEO of McLaren, commented on the decision of the UK High Court in the case against driver Alex Palou, which resulted in a compensation of over $10 million for the team. McLaren had sued Palou for breach of contract after the Spanish driver broke his agreement with the team to race in IndyCar in 2023. The reason for the breach was Palou’s realization that he would not receive a full-time seat in Formula 1 in 2024, something he believed had been promised during negotiations with Brown, which was denied by the McLaren CEO.
McLaren initially sought $20 million, but the court rejected the claims of losses related to Formula 1. However, the team received a total of $10.19 million, referring to the driver’s salary, revenue losses in IndyCar, and damages caused by sponsors. Additionally, another amount, between $2 million and $2.5 million, will be decided regarding a complaint from sponsors, which could increase the final amount to up to $12.6 million, just over half of what McLaren initially sought.
Brown stated that the verdict was ‘totally appropriate’ for McLaren: “As the decision shows, we were able to clearly demonstrate that we fulfilled all contractual obligations with Alex and honored what had been agreed,” Brown said.
He also thanked the court for recognizing the significant commercial impact and disruption to McLaren’s business caused by Palou’s breach of contract.
