A former McLaren racer has revealed his ‘anger’ and ‘upset’ at the signing of Oscar Piastri to the F1 team, and suggested that McLaren CEO Zak Brown told him it was not his decision.
Piastri was signed to the team at the end of 2022, and became the team’s full-time racer for the 2023 season, replacing Daniel Ricciardo.
In 2023, IndyCar star Alex Palou was McLaren’s reserve driver, and had taken part in FP1 at the 2022 United States Grand Prix, with a future seat in F1 looking to be on the horizon.
His relationship with McLaren broke down however, and the man who has won four of the last five IndyCar championships was in court last week alongside McLaren boss Brown as the team begin legal action against the Spaniard, trying to reclaim money that they allegedly invested in him.
In his witness statement in court, Palou claimed that the signing of Piastri was a bitter blow to his hopes of joining the F1 grid, but suggested that Brown admitted that the decision was not anything to do with him.
“I was very upset, worried and angry that McLaren had signed another rookie driver other than me,” Palou said, as reported by Motorsport Magazine.
“I asked Monaco Increase Management (MIM) to speak to Zak to ask what was going on.
“On September 22 they had a conversation with Zak, and Zak had told them they needed someone who would be quick in 2023, but that this would not interfere with my chances to get into F1.
“Zak told me that it wasn’t him who decided to hire Oscar, but Andreas Seidl. He assured me that my chances weren’t affected, but I knew everything had changed.”
Piastri’s McLaren career
Andreas Seidl was McLaren’s team principal at the time, and according to Palou’s statement, was heavily involved in the signing of Piastri, with Brown being CEO of the wider McLaren Racing brand and dealing with all of McLaren’s racing operations, not just F1.
Since joining McLaren, Piastri has claimed nine victories and currently sits atop the 2025 drivers’ championship.
As he hunts for a maiden title, Piastri is 22 points ahead of his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris, with the championship battle set to go down to the wire with six race weekends remaining in the season.
