The trial in the McLaren v. Palou case begins in London.

      A trial begins in London today that is expected to put an end to the long-running story involving McLaren’s claims against Alex Palou, who at one time refused to fulfil his contractual obligations to the British team.

      At least that is McLaren’s view, and we have reported on the various twists of this story. The American McLaren Indy LLC and the British McLaren Racing Ltd intend to recover around $30 million from Palou and the companies representing his interests.

      McLaren initiated proceedings in August 2023; since then there have been several attempts to find some compromise, to agree and settle everything out of court, but they were unsuccessful. Meanwhile Palou has already become a four-time IndyCar Series champion and still races for Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR).

      Briefly, here are the facts of the case. McLaren initially sought to sign the Spanish driver for 2023, but that was blocked by resistance from Chip Ganassi’s team. The matter was then settled through a so-called mediation process, and Palou was granted the right to leave CGR at the end of 2023 — a year later than Zak Brown wanted.

      But in August 2023 a lawyer representing Palou sent McLaren a letter saying Alex had signed a new three-year contract with CGR, which gave grounds to accuse the Spaniard of breaching the previously reached agreements.

      McLaren is asking the court to order Palou to compensate the financial losses the team allegedly incurred because he refused to fulfil his contractual obligations. The total multimillion-dollar claims include payments to the Spaniard, lost sponsorship revenue, and the money that had to be paid to other team drivers who had to take on the work McLaren had intended to assign to Palou, etc.

      As the American publication Racer, familiar with the circumstances of the case, writes, Palou’s lawyers will try to show that the eight-figure claim is clearly excessive in hopes of substantially reducing it. The hearings are expected to include testimony from independent experts, in particular Otmar Szafnauer, the former team principal of Alpine F1, and Claire Williams.

      It is already known that the hearings will last several weeks and a verdict is expected toward the end of October, although the process could drag on much longer and only conclude next year.