McLaren issue statement after multi-million dollar court case

McLaren has reached what it describes as a "final settlement" with Chip Ganassi Racing after the multi-million dollar court case against Alex Palou. 

Palou and McLaren were in London's High Court in autumn 2025 after the four-time champion broke a contract to drive for the team in IndyCar in the summer of 2023. 

Palou did so and signed new terms with CGR after initially believing that he was set for an F1 race seat, but after Oscar Piastri's strong start to his rookie season that year, realised his options with McLaren were limited.

McLaren subsequently sued Palou for a loss of earnings across both its IndyCar and F1 teams, with RacingNews365 in court to hear evidence throughout the trial, although Mr Justice Picken threw out the claims in relation to the F1 team in his verdict in January. 

However, he did decide that Palou owed McLaren a guaranteed sum of $10,194,844 for breaching the contract in terms of driver salary, sponsor incentives and a bonus from General Motors, with a further sum to be decided for further sponsorship deals. 

This pushed the total to a potential $12.6 million, of the near $20 million McLaren was initially seeking. 

Since the verdict on January 23rd, McLaren and Ganassi have been in discussions over the sum to be paid, with statements being issued by both McLaren and Palou, the reigning Indy 500 champion, as a "final settlement" has been reached.

The total sum agreed has not been disclosed.

"I’m very pleased that we have reached a final settlement with Chip Ganassi Racing after a UK judge ruled in our favour in January," said McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown. 

"I want to thank the team working directly on the case for so many months, and everyone who supported us throughout the process. Pleased we can now return to battling things out on track and focus on what’s set to be an exciting IndyCar season."

Chip Ganassi also released a simultaneous statement, stating that "I am happy to confirm that we have reached a final settlement with McLaren Racing following a UK judge ruling in January. 

"I cannot condone what happened and I am glad that the matter is now over. With the benefit of hindsight, I hope Alex has learned it's important to keep good people around him, which he now does, so the events of 2023 are never repeated.

"I want to thank Zak and McLaren Racing for now giving us a chance to leave this matter behind us and fully focus on the exciting IndyCar season ahead."

The article continues below. 

Alex Palou statement

Releasing a statement of his own, Palou explained that he felt the situation in the "summer of 2023 could have been handled differently" and that McLaren had "fulfilled every obligation."

The Spanish racer explained that he had been surrounded by bad advice, and wished he had spoken with Brown to discuss the problems before breaking his contract.

Palou's full statement is available to read below.