2023 NTT Indycar series - News, rumours and circlework

[MonteCristo]

Bottom post of the previous page:

Good luck to him!

[Vassago]

Apparently Palou changed his mind again and won't join McLaren in 2024

https://apnews.com/article/indycar-f1-a ... 64a91d8400

[John]

Apparently Palou changed his mind again and won't join McLaren in 2024

https://apnews.com/article/indycar-f1-a ... 64a91d8400

Which leaves either staying in the 10, or he's unearthed some form of F1 seat. I'm guessing the first.

[John]

[Everso Biggyballies]

Apparently Palou changed his mind again and won't join McLaren in 2024

https://apnews.com/article/indycar-f1-a ... 64a91d8400

So Alex has reneged on the contract with McLaren and looks set to re-sign with Ganassi.
Didnt he end up being taken to court by Ganassi last year when he signed for MClaren despite still being under contract to Ganassi.

Zak Brown is well pissed with Alex... understandably so. Alex did a number of F1 sessions with Macca on the basis of this deal, including an FP1 at CotA last year and was reserve at Miami. He has taken them for a ride basically.

“I’m extremely disappointed that Alex Palou does not intend to honor his contractual obligations to race with us in IndyCar in 2024 and beyond.”

In a letter sent to McLaren employees after final practice at Indianapolis on Friday evening, first reported by the Associated Press, Brown wrote: “This is incredibly disappointing, considering the commitment he has made to us both directly and publicly and our significant investment in him based on that commitment.”

It seems Alex has also split with his management team.....

His management company, Monaco Increase Management, issued its own statement saying it was “bitterly disappointed” with his decision.

It read: “Monaco Increase Management is bitterly disappointed to learn about Alex Palou’s decision to break an existing agreement with McLaren for 2024 and beyond. Together, we had built a relationship that we thought went beyond any contractual obligation and culminated in winning the 2021 Indycar crown and tracing a path to F1 opportunities.

“Life goes on and we wish Alex all the best for his future achievements.”

MIM had been active in the F1 paddock representing Palou, as his McLaren deal is understood to have had a multi-million dollar buyout deal until July 1, but he confirmed this week that he’d had no interest from other F1 teams.

All signs now point to a multi-year renewal with Ganassi, with a seven-figure salary that would likely make him the best-paid driver in the series.

https://www.motorsport.com/indycar/news ... /10507021/

[John]

https://racer.com/2023/08/12/ganassi-sp ... act-issue/

Chip weighs in

[MonteCristo]

Chip weighs in

Here, take my upvote.

[FalconHawk]

Chip Ganassi had enough for Zak Brown, Brown wants to have his cake and eating it, the sweet karma occurs for him

[acerogers58]

Kyle Larson's McLaren/Hendrick entry for the 2024 Indy 500.

[John]

Harvey sacked (I think). Conor Daly (who else) will be in the 30 at WWT. RLL say that the driver for Portland and Seca will be announced "in due course".



Meanwhile the race for top-22 in owners points are heating up.

[MonteCristo]

Sucks for Harvey. But then again, he did nothing all season. Not even hints of anything.

Should have stayed at Shank unfortunately. Couldn't have been any worse than Pags and Fenceclimber have been.

[Vassago]

Yeah, Harvey's decision to leave Shank looks like a complete flop. Maybe he didn't believe MSR will expand into a full-time multi-car IndyCar effort and obviously Rahal has more history in this series but he'd be better off staying at Shank. I don't think he gets anywhere beyond one-off Indy 500 entries from here on.

[MonteCristo]

Yeah, Harvey's decision to leave Shank looks like a complete flop. Maybe he didn't believe MSR will expand into a full-time multi-car IndyCar effort and obviously Rahal has more history in this series but he'd be better off staying at Shank. I don't think he gets anywhere beyond one-off Indy 500 entries from here on.

Unless he's got some money behind him, agree.

A pity because he was actually pretty impressive at Shank. Great at qualifying, and I think team strategy was the single biggest culprit in his race performances rather than his driving.

[John]

Harvey and MSR had quite an ugly falling out, so both parties wanted to move on. But yeah, hindsight is 10/10. But in the end, both Graham and Lundgaard has put in great drives (at times) in the RLL cars whereas Harvey hasn't. I'd be interested to know just where it went wrong.

With MSR he had the qualy pace even though they usually shafted themselves on race day. If he hadn't made the 500 grid he probably would've been gone a few races ago. He has no business sitting that low in the standings.

[John]

Marshall Pruett reports that there will be a Swedish driver with CGR next year and his name is Linus Lundqvist.

https://racer.com/2023/08/16/indycar-si ... ede-it-is/

[MonteCristo]

Marshall Pruett reports that there will be a Swedish driver with CGR next year and his name is Linus Lundqvist.

https://racer.com/2023/08/16/indycar-si ... ede-it-is/

*earthquake*

Wow, good on him.

Meanwhile, will Marcus end up retired by the side of the road with another Andretti engine failure? Oh well, the money is probably good.