15/10/2025 11:05
An insight into how much rookie drivers are willing to pay to take
part in a free practice session has been revealed in court
documents. The McLaren vs Alex Palou case continued this week, in
which McLaren is seeking damages after Palou admitted to a breach
of contract. Palou had signed to join McLaren's pool of drivers but
told the court in London that he lost faith in the deal when a
route to F1 became less likely in 2023, prompting him to remain put
at Chip Ganassi Racing. The Spaniard took part in one practice
session with the Woking-based squad, suiting up at the 2022 United
States Grand Prix while part of the team's development programme.
According to Motorsport Magazine , documents from the court case
demonstrated just how much some rookies are sending across to get
an hour under their belt. At the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Le Mans
winner and two-time WEC champion Ryo Hirakawa forked out $3.5
million for an FP1 appearance, as well as two outings at Testing of
Previous Cars (TPC) events. It marked Hirakawa's FP1 debut, as the
Japanese driver stood in for Oscar Piastri. The 31-year-old has
since had three further FP1 outings, getting behind the wheel at
Alpine in Japan before driving Haas' car in Bahrain and Spain.
Every F1 team is mandated to provide four FP1 sessions per season
to rookie drivers. Part of Palou's defence now circles around the
finances associated with the Spaniard's appearances at TPC events
and his FP1 outing. His legal team has argued Palou does not owe
McLaren anything as the team "got precisely what it expected to: an
F1 reserve driver from October 2022 to August 2023, and an
opportunity to assess his potential in an F1 car". McLaren CEO Zak
Brown played down the claim and asserted that "even Lando Norris"
paid to be part of the programme until he was promoted to a
full-time drive in 2019.
