Alex Palou makes a big F1 admission in the latest trial against McLaren

IndyCar champion Alex Palou reportedly claimed that he was willing to give up his full-time seat in the series to pursue his dream of racing in F1 with McLaren. The Spanish driver has been dominant in the popular American single-seater series, having won the title on four occasions and claimed the iconic Indy 500 in the 2025 season.

However, before signing a long-term deal with Chip Ganassi Racing, the 28-year-old had signed a contract with the Woking-based outfit on the promise of racing at the pinnacle of motorsport. In his statement in the UK High Court, Palou claimed that he would be paying a heavy amount for his legal fees in a battle against McLaren, as it could take years despite Chip Ganassi Racing agreeing to cover his legal costs.

As per Motorsport Magazine, Alex Palou told the court that he was willing to leave IndyCar and become a reserve for the British team in his initial contract, which would have run from 2024 to 2026. He said:

“At that point, I think I had the ability to not race in IndyCar but still try to get a Formula 1 reserve role with another team, so that is what I would have tried to do: that was my dream.”

Palou had signed a deal with McLaren from 2023 but later deferred to the next year before completely cutting ties with the latter after he claimed that Zak Brown made false promises about a potential F1 seat.

Alex Palou remarks on his decision to terminate his McLaren contract

IndyCar champion Alex Palou revealed that he was informed about Oscar Piastri's hiring for the 2023 season by Zak Brown during a dinner conversation, as he believed that he was overlooked for a rookie.

As quoted by the aforementioned source, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver said:

“When testing with McLaren, Zak told me he believed we could make it happen, and that he would give me all the preparation I needed to get to F1. At the time, I thought he was genuine. I went for dinner with Zak near MTC [McLaren Technology Centre]. Zak told me it was not his decision to hire Oscar. He said it was the decision of [then] team manager Andreas Seidl."

“Zak told me Piastri’s performance would be evaluated against mine for 2024. Zak said that, from his point of view, my chance of getting the F1 seat was not affected by Oscar. However, I knew everything had changed. From that point on, I started to be more willing to stay with CGR in the future.”

Palou had even appeared in several practice sessions throughout 2021 and 2022 and even tested F1 machinery for the British team at the end of the end-of-season testing in Abu Dhabi in the same year.