Brown denies 'shafting' and misleading drivers as Palou case continues

McLaren boss Zak Brown has denied “stringing along” current and prospective IndyCar drivers with promises of an F1 seat, as the court case between the team and current IndyCar champion Alex Palou continues.

Brown began giving evidence today as part of his team’s $20.7m (£15.43m) claim against Palou and his associated management companies for reneging on an IndyCar contract that would have seem him switch from Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) to McLaren.

In heated exchanges at London’s Royal Courts of Justice, Palou’s barrister, Nick De Marco KC accused Brown of having a habit of “encouraging people with words on the one hand, then shafting them on the other”.

Four-time IndyCar champion and this year’s Indy 500 winner Palou admits breaching the McLaren contract to remain with CGR, but disputes the damages claimed, and alleges that Brown misled him over the prospect of moving to F1.

The court has heard that Palou lost faith when Oscar Piastri was signed to the grand prix team.

Brown, who missed some of his F1 team’s 2025 constructors’ champions celebrations after Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix to fly back to London, was initially congratulated on the success by De Marco before being cross-examined and accused of being “evasive and dishonest” with his evidence, a claim that he refuted.

Brown’s dealings with other drivers, including Pato O’Ward and Alexander were brought up as examples where he was economical with the truth. He was also questioned about the seemingly inconsistent deletion of potentially relevant WhatsApp messages. In all cases, Brown insisted that he had followed standard procedures.

A suited Palou, sitting at the back of the court was seen shaking his head in reaction to some of the answers given by the McLaren chief about his first contact with the driver.

“The only reason he’s [Palou] joining would be to get into F1,” said De Marco, who had previously explained how McLaren was seen as a “second-class” IndyCar team compared with CGR. “He puts a Tweet out [about joining McLaren] then reads a Tweet from Oscar Piastri that he would be joining McLaren in August 2022.

“All that time you have been stringing Mr Palou along.”

“I never strung along Alex,” Brown replied. “I told him what the opportunities would be in F1. I never told him he would be under consideration for 2023… there was some optionality to join F1.”

Brown denied that Piastri’s signing had made Palou “disillusioned”.

“He never communicated that to me once,” said Brown. “Never once did he ever communicate any concern.

“I believe he was seduced [into re-signing] by his current racing team”

Brown was accused of trivialising driver negotiations, with documents relating to Alexander Rossi’s prospective contract extension with McLaren’s IndyCar team (which ultimately never came to pass).

The court heard that Brown and McLaren’s current team principal Tony Kanaan agreed during mid-2024 to replace the American with young Danish star Christian Lundgaard, but at the same time continued correspondence with Rossi’s father (who is also his manager) about a potential renewal for the 2016 Indy 500 winner.

An email from Brown to Kanaan was read out to the courtroom, where he said that the protracted contract negotiations with Rossi would be a “fun one to exit”, adding a laughing emoji symbol. De Marco accused Brown of joking about the situation.

“No, I think you are taking that out of context,” replied Brown. “I was saying it would be difficult to exit. I was saying that in jest.”