Q: Palou is undeniably a talented driver, and seems to be a genuinely nice person. But it is time for him to grow up and stop this wishy-washy contract nonsense. It would be a real shame if his lack of commitment overshadowed his talent, and teams started to avoid him.
Bill, Cleveland, OH
MP: It would be nice, wouldn’t it? Imagine all of the wasted hours we’d get back if he just did what he agreed to do. But, that’s not what he’s done and so here we are with a Mailbag that might be 10,000 words by the time we’re done. I wish I got paid by the word.
Q: Does Palou sign his contracts and letters of intent with disappearing ink? His lack of maturity and judgment outside or a race car is baffling. The lawyers on both sides of this mess must be thrilled at the prospect of a cornucopia of billable hours.
Bill Branagh
MP: When you have his kind of talent, using it as a tool to get what you want is an option. It’s also an option for the others in his upper echelon of talent, but most don’t wield it in such a divisive or destructive manner.
Q: I don’t know about you, but there is a hard valuable lesson for up-and-coming athletes and entertainers — they need should always read the contract before signing it. I don’t want to point fingers at Alex Palou over the McLaren-Ganassi drama over the last two years.
Perhaps his advisers told him that if he did sign the contract, it would lead to a Formula 1 ride. Well, Oscar Piastri also signed the contract with McLaren F1 after he was pulled away from Alpine Racing. I do hope Alex ends up in Formula 1 because I think he’s one of the most talented drivers to race in IndyCar and is the type of driver that, if given a chance like Red Bull, would give Max Verstappen a run for his money. But he and his handlers should have read the contract to make sure it was a guarantee that he was going to drive for McLaren in F1.
Alistair
MP: I doubt we’re dealing with a failure to read the fine print here. If a superstar doesn’t want to play for his current team, contracts be damned, they either give in and play or get released. The I-don’t-want-to-drive-for-you game Palou played with Chip in 2022 is the same he’s playing with Zak in 2023, and if we assume he’ll be driving for Chip for years to come, we’ll also be on the lookout for another I-don’t-want-to-drive-for-you move if he gets bored or thinks he can drive something else for someone else.
As for Max, I don’t think the Dutchman would lose a moment of sleep if Alex was his teammate.
Q: I took my son to the Brickyard because I had heard last year kids were able to get paddock access and that it was an open area (the IndyCar area, that is). I didn’t do my due diligence to see what the plan was for this year, and was surprised that it was gated off. OK, no big deal, I’m sure paddock passes are for sale. I went to the credentials office and they told me you had to be 18 or older to get one. This is not like IndyCar at all. I waited in line with my son to get autographs from the Team Penske drivers. We talked to people around us, and without my prompting they complained about kids not being able to get paddock access as well.
I know the credential came with pit access and you probably don’t want kids on pit lane. In May, the garage area is restricted to an expensive bronze badge. (Expensive if you don’t live in the area to use it, but a bargain if you’re in the area). It would be great if we could find a way to open up the paddock/garage to kids at some point during the year for the road course weekend(s).
Ryan, West Michigan
MP: That sounds like a perfectly reasonable request, Ryan.
Q: With Palou seemingly not going to McLaren anymore, and Rosenqvist in discussions with other teams, is there a possibility that he doesn’t return to the team next year regardless of Palou’s plans? If so, have you heard anything on anybody else McLaren might be scouting?
Tom
MP: Felix had yet another good run going and was felled by a gearbox problem, which felt like the perfect summation of his time at Arrow McLaren. Minus Palou, I’d assume the team will make him an offer to stay, but I hope he doesn’t take it. Rosenqvist has the look of someone who needs to start over somewhere else.
I’ve heard McLaren thinks highly of Callum Ilott, as do other teams with seats to offer.
Q: For those of us who may not have been paying close enough attention, can you give us a Reader’s Digest-type synopsis on the Palou contract saga? Is there an obvious good guy or bad guy? Is this just a typical (albeit high-profile) contract negotiation that, unfortunately, got disclosed? Will there ultimately be long-term animosity?
Rick, Lisle, IL
MP: Alex wanted to renegotiate his contract with Chip that paid very little money after winning the title in 2021, and Chip said no. Some form of outreach was made to McLaren by Palou or his former management team with the belief that Alex could be signed, and while there was an interest held in Palou by McLaren, he wasn’t someone they would go to the end of the world to hold onto. Alex signed a deal with McLaren while under contract to Ganassi, which wasn’t appreciated, so Ganassi sued Palou. McLaren backed Palou and covered the lawyer fees, and Palou countersued Ganassi for things I don’t fully understand.
Chip was willing to play the long game here and in the final stages of the season, as the lawyer bills started piling up and it became clear Ganassi wasn’t going to back down, McLaren stepped back. Without McLaren’s backing, Palou abandoned the idea of fighting Chip on his own and opted to sign a one-year extension which had a concession in it from Chip that would allow Palou to leave, if he chose to, after the 2023 season.
In that contract, Palou was given a non-compete/non-negotiation date of September 1, 2023, which made the revelation from McLaren last week that it was already paying Palou to race for them in 2024 a bit of a shocker. We’ll see where this goes and if McLaren will sue Palou to try and enforce a contract that may or may not be valid, if Ganassi will sue McLaren for what may or may not be tortious interference with its driver, and so on.