Zak Brown claps back at Alex Palou’s “ludicrous” Oscar Piastri claims
Alex Palou's claims have angered McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown.
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has rejected Alex Palou’s claims that he never wanted to sign Oscar Piastri.
McLaren are in an ongoing court case against four-time IndyCar champion Palou, claiming more than $20m in lost profit as a result of the 28-year-old Spaniard’s shock U-Turn on a deal to drive for McLaren’s IndyCar team alongside an F1 reverse role.
Palou has argued that he was misled by Brown into thinking he would have an opportunity to race for McLaren in F1 before they signed Piastri following a legal battle to prize the Australian out of his Alpine contract.
Two years ago, Palou refused to race for McLaren in IndyCar for the 2024 season and instead stayed with Chip Ganassi Racing. The long-running dispute between Palou and McLaren reached the UK High Court last week.
Palou told the court that Brown had promised him he could help find him a seat in F1, and went as far as to claim that the American did not make the decision to sign Piastri.
“I went for dinner with Zak near MTC [McLaren Technology Centre],” Palou said in court. “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.”
But Brown insists he never made such promises, and rubbished the suggestion that he was not on board with signing Piastri.
"I'm not sure which allegation amused me more - the notion that I would not be the one making a key decision about our driver line-up, or the suggestion that I wasn’t on board with signing the hugely talented Oscar Piastri," Brown told Reuters.
"Both allegations are clearly ludicrous, and anyone who follows our sport will see straight through them.
"We have the absolute best driver pairing on the F1 grid in Oscar and Lando. I could not be more thrilled with their incredible performance and their sportsmanship.
"I’m excited for the awesome racing we’re going to see for the rest of the season.”
McLaren clinched the F1 constructors’ championship for the second consecutive season at the Singapore Grand Prix last time out.
Piastri holds a 22-point lead over McLaren teammate Lando Norris with six races remaining.
The 2025 F1 drivers’ championship battle is set to resume at this weekend’s United States Grand Prix in Austin.
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