Who do you believe? In a crazy series of events on Tuesday, competing press releases from both Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) and Mclaren both claimed the services of Alex Palou for the 2023 season.
From the Chip Ganassi Racing side, the following was released:
Chip Ganassi Racing Exercises Option with Alex Palou Through 2023
Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) announced today that the team has exercised its option to extend Alex Palou through the 2023 season.
Palou won CGR’s 14th INDYCAR SERIES championship in 2021, also becoming the first Spaniard to ever win the season title.
“Alex’s track record speaks for itself,” said Team Owner Chip Ganassi. “He’s a proven champion and one of the most formidable drivers in the world. We are very excited to continue working together.”
The defending NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion has continued to impress this year, securing his 12th podium finish in his 25th career race with Chip Ganassi Racing at Mid-Ohio.
Palou will return to the CGR fold for his third season with the team next year.
“It’s a great feeling knowing I’ll be back with Chip Ganassi Racing next season,” said Alex Palou. “The team welcomed me with open arms from day one, and I’m excited to continue working with Chip, Mike Hull, the folks on the No. 10 NTT DATA car and everyone within the organization. The goals remain the same and we will continue to work relentlessly towards achieving them.”
The CGR team heads north this weekend where Alex Palou will race for the first time in Canada at the Honda Indy Toronto.
At the time of this posting, see the release here:
Around the same time, McLaren released the following:
INDYCAR CHAMPION ALEX PALOU TO JOIN McLAREN RACING IN 2023
"I'm extremely excited to join the driver roster for such an iconic team as McLaren"
McLaren Racing has signed champion driver Alex Palou to race for McLaren starting in 2023.
Alongside his racing duties next year, Palou will also test with the McLaren F1 Team as part of its 2021 MCL35M F1 car testing programme with fellow drivers Pato O’Ward and Colton Herta.
Palou, 25-years-old from Barcelona, Spain, won three races and scored eight podiums in 2021 on his way to winning the title in just his second year in INDYCAR.
Palou became the first Spanish driver to win the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship when he claimed last year’s title. His motorsport resume also includes an impressive season in Super Formula in 2019, where he secured a win and finished third in the championship.
Palou will join McLaren following the conclusion of his 2022 INDYCAR season. McLaren Racing will confirm its full driver line-ups across all of its racing series in due course.
Alex Palou, said:
“I’m extremely excited to join the driver roster for such an iconic team as McLaren. I’m excited to be able to show what I can do behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car and looking at what doors that may open. I want to thank everyone at Chip Ganassi Racing for everything they have done for me.”
Zak Brown, CEO, McLaren Racing, said:
“We have always said that we want the best talent at McLaren, and it’s exciting to be able to include Alex on that list. I’m also looking forward to seeing him get behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car as part of our Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) programme alongside Pato O’Ward and Colton Herta as we continue to build our driver talent. Alex is an incredibly talented driver who has won in every series he has raced in, and I’m happy to welcome him to the McLaren family.”
At the time of this posting, see the release here:
So what did Palou have to say? Well, it appears he feels he is headed to McLaren!
The official NTT INDYCAR site briefly had a story referencing the announcement from Chip Ganassi Racing but at this time it appears that news story has been removed.
Update - New story on indycar.com:
It will be interesting to see what comes of this but it's clear that Palou feels like he has made a decision to go to McLaren and that maybe the release from CGR was premature or simply false.
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