FLORIDA: Four-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou on Friday was ordered to pay McLaren Racing more than $12 million in the breach of contract suit the team filed when the Spaniard backed out of two different deals with the racing team.
The Friday ruling from London’s High Court came after a five-week trial last year. McLaren initially sought almost $30 million in damages, but that number was reduced to $20.7 million as the racing juggernaut sought to reclaim money allegedly lost in sponsorship, driver salaries and performance earnings.
“This is an entirely appropriate result for McLaren Racing. As the ruling shows, we clearly demonstrated that we fulfilled every single contractual obligation toward Alex and fully honored what had been agreed,” said McLaren Racing boss Zak Brown. “We thank the court for recognizing the very significant commercial impact and disruption our business suffered as a result of Alex’s breach of contract with the team.”
McLaren added it is still seeking interest and reimbursement of its legal expenses.
Palou was not ordered to pay anything related to Formula 1 losses McLaren said it suffered when Palou decided to remain with Chip Ganassi Racing rather than move to McLaren’s IndyCar team in 2024. All the damages awarded to McLaren were tied to losses the IndyCar team suffered by Palou’s change of mind.
“The court has dismissed in their entirety McLaren’s Formula 1 claims against me which once stood at almost $15 million,” Palou said in a statement. “The court’s decision shows the claims against me were completely overblown. It’s disappointing that so much time and cost was spent fighting these claims, some of which the Court found had no value, simply because I chose not to drive for McLaren after I learned they wouldn’t be able to give me an F1 drive.
“I’m disappointed that any damages have been awarded to McLaren. They have not suffered any loss because of what they have gained from the driver who replaced me. I am considering my options with my advisers and have no further comments to make at this stage.”
Palou has won three consecutive IndyCar titles and the Indianapolis 500 since this saga began midway through the 2022 season. He has four IndyCar titles in the last five seasons.
The bulk of the damages awarded to McLaren were tied to loss of sponsorship. Palou was ordered to pay $5.3 million to cover the losses in the team’s agreement with NTT Data, $2.5 million in “other IndyCar sponsorship revenue” and $2 million in performance-based revenue.
IndyCar team owner Chip Ganassi said Palou has his backing.
“Alex has our full support, now and always. We know the character of our driver and the strength of our team, and nothing changes that,” Ganassi said. “While we respect the legal process, our focus is exactly where it should be: on racing, on winning, and on doing what this organization has always done best, competing at the highest level.
“We’re locked in on chasing another championship and defending our 2025 Indianapolis 500 victory. That’s where our energy is, and that’s where Alex’s focus is, on the track, doing what he does best: winning.”
McLaren has won the last two constructor championships in F1 and Lando Norris last season won the driver championship.
Palou first signed with McLaren in 2022 to drive for its IndyCar team in 2023, but Ganassi pushed back and exercised an option on Palou for the 2023 season. The matter was decided through mediation, with McLaren covering Palou’s legal costs. Palou could not join McLaren until 2024 but was permitted to be the reserve and test driver for the F1 team in 2023.
When McLaren signed Oscar Piastri for its F1 team, and Palou’s performance with Ganassi in IndyCar was so dominant, the driver decided he did not want to move to McLaren’s IndyCar team and reneged on his contract.
Palou argued his contracts with McLaren were “based on lies,” and he’d never have a chance to race in F1. His counsel also accused Brown of destroying evidence by deleting WhatsApp messages related to the case.
McLaren contended it lost revenue when Palou backed out ahead of the 2024 season and the team had to scramble to find another driver. McLaren wanted Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson, who had already committed to Andretti Global, so it instead used four different drivers that season.
Because none were as accomplished as Palou, McLaren argued both NTT Data and General Motors reduced their payouts to the team because McLaren did not field a driver of the caliber it had promised.
Alex Palou ordered to pay McLaren Racing $12m in breach of contract suit
https://arab.news/pdsj8
Alex Palou ordered to pay McLaren Racing $12m in breach of contract suit
- The Friday ruling from London’s High Court came after a five-week trial last year
- McLaren initially sought almost $30 million in damages
‘He earned it’ – Monica Puig lends support to fellow Puerto Rican Bad Bunny ahead of Super Bowl halftime show
- Retired tennis star speaks to Arab News in Abu Dhabi about the backlash surrounding Bad Bunny’s performance, the fandom around Alex Eala, and the 10-year anniversary of her Olympic triumph
Retired tennis player Monica Puig has voiced her support for fellow Puerto Rican Bad Bunny ahead of his upcoming Super Bowl halftime show, and admits it’s been difficult to witness the backlash against the NFL’s decision to select him to perform in Sunday’s showpiece.
Puig, who made history in Rio 2016 by becoming Puerto Rico’s first-ever Olympic gold medalist, had been working as the stadium presenter and MC at the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open tennis tournament in the UAE capital this past week.
The 32-year-old cannot wait to watch her compatriot light up the Super Bowl 60 stage and is disheartened by the controversy that has been created around his upcoming performance.
“I'm getting off of a 15-hour flight tomorrow and I will be turning on the TV to watch Bad Bunny, Benito, or as they call it the ‘Benito Bowl’,” Puig told Arab News in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
“It's been a really controversial moment, which has been hard to see because being from Puerto Rico, it is an American territory; it is part of the United States. And people have really said they wanted an American artist [to perform at the Super Bowl] when we are an American territory.
“We have a U.S. passport, U.S. currency, everything. We are part of the United States. The only thing that we cannot do is vote for the president. But we are essentially part of the U.S.”
Bad Bunny, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, has been the most streamed artist on the planet in four of the past five years and the NFL is looking to bank on his mega popularity to expand their global reach.
But some in the United States aren’t happy that the Super Bowl halftime show will be performed in Spanish and others have criticized Bad Bunny’s public stance against the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which prompted him to skip the U.S on his latest tour in order to protect his audience.
Last week, Bad Bunny became the first artist in Grammy Awards history to win Album of the Year with a Spanish-language album, receiving the honor for Debi Tirar Mas Fotos.
He won three awards that night, taking his total Grammy tally to six, and when accepting one of them, he said, uncharacteristically in English: “ICE out! We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans.”
Puig has personally met Bad Bunny before and is certain his performance is going to be “a treat”.
“He's earned it. Album of the Year; his album has resonated with all of Puerto Rico. It has even made a big international impact,” added Puig, whose first dance at her wedding was to the Bad Bunny song ‘Ojitos Lindos’.
“People who don't know Spanish love his album. And like he says, it doesn't matter if you don't even know Spanish, just learn to dance and you will enjoy. He is a great showman.
“He loves Puerto Rico with all of his heart and it's really great to see that the things that I feel for Puerto Rico and the things that I feel for my country, he feels as well. And I think we all do.
“All Puerto Ricans can pretty much resonate with that. So I'm going to be watching. I already told my husband we are going to order pizza. We are going to sit down. We are going to watch this performance because it's going to be just... I wasn't able to go to his concert because I was pregnant. I wanted to go back to Puerto Rico to watch. So for me, this is going to be a treat.”
Puig, who lives in Atlanta with her husband Nathan Rakitt and their six-month-old daughter Mila, understands everyone is entitled to their own opinion but wishes people can see the commonalities between us all as humans, rather than the things that divide us.
“It's been quite tough to see the divide because I don't think I've really seen so much pushback on many things. I mean, we have seen Latinos perform at the Super Bowl. We've seen Shakira. We've seen so many different faces and voices take the stage that are not American,” she said.
“To be able to see that kind of pushback, it's been a little puzzling. And for me, it is what it is. We're not going to change what's going on. We're not going to have any impact on what people say.
“And that's their own opinion. Everybody's entitled to their opinion. But I know that I am a 100 percent fan.
“We all have to love and embrace one another. Just because we are from somewhere else, just because we speak a different language doesn't make us any different. We are human. We put our shoes on one foot at a time and we all have dreams, ambitions, goals. And that's the most important thing.”
A ‘wild’ week in Abu Dhabi
Dreams, ambitions and goals were on full display in Abu Dhabi this week, where Puig had a front-row seat to the phenomenon that is Alex Eala.
The young Filipina has risen to rockstar status back home as she’s made her way into the top 50 in the world rankings and she drew capacity crowds in the UAE capital for every match she played across singles and doubles.
In doubles, she partnered another groundbreaking southeast Asian in the form of Indonesia’s Janice Tjen.
Both players are making history for their countries every time they step on a tennis court.
Puig knows a thing or two about making history and has some advice for the likes of Eala and Tjen.
“I think to enjoy it, embrace it,” she said.
“It also is a big responsibility because you are pretty much the face for your country. And I know the Philippines has had success in other sports, but Eala now being the face of tennis, Filipino tennis, and Janice Tjen for Indonesia.
“It's really great to see these players coming from their countries and making a big boom. And to see their fan base also follow them is something really cool because it doesn't matter if they know tennis, they don't know tennis, they show up for their countrywomen. And it's really been super exciting to see, especially here in Abu Dhabi, a lot of Filipinos here, a lot of Indonesian fans in here. So it's been a pretty remarkable week.”
Puig described the atmosphere during Eala’s matches as “absolutely wild” and said it reminded her of her own experience competing at the Rio Olympics en route to the top of the podium.
“They were just loud. They were so passionate and they were really trying to encourage Eala to win. And you saw that they were just suffering along with her,” she added.
This year marks the 10-year anniversary of Puig’s Olympic triumph.
Asked to reflect on the standout moment from her run in Rio, she said: “I think the biggest moment for me was seeing back home the reactions of everybody afterward, after the fact.
“Because I didn't really know or understand the impact that it had in Puerto Rico. And then my agent at the end of the match, he's like, ‘You have to see what's going on’. And I was just flabbergasted. I was stunned. And it was the biggest of the biggest celebrations.
“And just to see what it meant and knowing that sports in Puerto Rico really have the power to unite the island and really have the power to kind of dim all of the negativity that's going on and just kind of bring happiness in that moment. It was just wild.”
