Was there really any other way the Alex Palou situation could have amicably ended up?
You could excuse Alex Palou for getting excited just for at least one second when he saw Oscar Piastri score a big win in court in Europe and gain his freedom from his current employers at Alpine to move on to McLaren.
After all, Piastri’s story in Formula 1 seemed a mirror on Palou’s in IndyCar, with both drivers suddenly announcing their departures from teams that had just hours before announced them for 2023, to instead leave for the British unit.
But Palou’s elation more than likely lasted only for that one second, as in reality, that announcement was the moment when his own fate was sealed, and not in the direction he had been hoping for.
With Palou being sued by Chip Ganassi Racing over his obligation to the team in United States Federal Court, a quick resolution similar to what Piastri had achieved with the Formula 1 Contracts Resolution Board was not in the cards. If Chip wanted, he could easily tie Palou up in legal hell for well past the start of next year’s IndyCar season.
And should Palou try and escape to an international series, Ganassi could likely drag the FIA into the proceedings, which at the very least would give pause to any potential employers for Palou.
Which meant Palou had two avenues to avoiding spending the entirety of 2023 out of the sport – McLaren could come up with a financial settlement that was agreeable to Ganassi (a price reported to be $10 million dollars by NBC's Townsend Bell during the IndyCar finale broadcast), or Palou could make an agreement to stay with his current team, though Chip Ganassi is not known to be the easiest guy to make a deal with when he feels he’s been screwed previously.
Feeling they now had a Formula 1 pairing of drivers that could take them well into the future, and with no reason to remove Felix Rosenqvist from their No. 7 IndyCar after a strong 2022, McLaren’s Zak Brown had to look at that $10 million dollar price tag and think, “Sorry Alex, we love you, but business is business,” and get themselves extracted from this whole mess as soon as possible.
Which mean Palou’s future was now entirely in Chip Ganassi’s hands.
Luckily for the Spanish driver, the team owner likes winning enough to forgive the otherwise unforgivable. And in the aftermath of Palou’s statement-making win at Laguna Seca, Ganassi stood watching Penske’s Will Power accept the trophy for the season championship, and looked at his team of three of his four drivers in Palou, Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson, all have the potential for winning both the Indianapolis 500 and the IndyCar championship next year.
After struggling for years with Scott Dixon and a cast of also-rans, this was clearly worth Chip convincing himself that the 25-year-old Palou was just a kid who made a mistake, and could be forgiven (this time).
Ganassi even threw Palou a bone of announcing he could test F1 cars should the opportunity arise -- with “test” being the key word here -- and included the statement “provided that it does not directly conflict with his IndyCar commitments."
And sure, why not. You see everyone? My team can get you to F1, too, if that’s what you’re looking for.
Terms of the deal have not yet been announced, but the smart move here would be to at least setup options for several years going forward, as Palou can look over at his three teammates -- the former Formula 1 driver and reigning Indy 500 winner (Ericsson), the Formula NASCAR driver (Jimmie Johnson), and the IndyCar lifer and six-time champ (Dixon) -- and realize this might not be such a bad gig after all.