London’s High Court has awarded $12 million to McLaren to be paid by Alex Palou in its breach of contract lawsuit against its once-prospective driver.
According to The Athletic, the ruling occurred on Jan. 23 after a trial conducted last fall. While Palou was ordered to pay $12 million, the remainder of the lawsuit was dismissed.
The suit came about after Palou was announced to drive for McLaren beginning in 2023. This was disputed by Chip Ganassi Racing, for whom Palou drove at the time, and he remained with CGR for 2023 with parties reportedly agreeing to have Palou move to McLaren for 2024.
However, Palou later informed McLaren he did not plan to honor the agreement, which led to the lawsuit.
Palou has since continued with CGR, for whom he has won four NTT IndyCar Series championships in the last five seasons, including three in a row to date.
Kevin Rutherford is the executive editor of Frontstretch, a position he gained in 2025 after being the managing editor since 2015, and serving on the editing staff since 2013.
At his day job, he's a journalist covering music and rock charts at Billboard. He lives in New York City, but his heart is in Ohio -- you know, like that Hawthorne Heights song.
So is Chip going to pay the fine?
Who knows. But I’m certain there are many people who have spent a lot more than $12M in racing that don’t have 4 titles to show for the investment.
“he did not plan to honor the agreement”. Is that what he told McLaren?