Zak Brown lands Alex Palou dig as McLaren add new reserve driver to the fold

迈凯轮老板Zak布朗有一个小挖在亚历克斯Palou’s expense as he outlined the team’s reserve driver status for the rest of 2023.

McLaren’s reserve driver pool was unclear following IndyCar Champion Alex Palou’s decision to cut and run from the McLaren IndyCar team before turning a wheel for them.

Racing for Chip Ganassi Racing in 2023, Palou had been due to join McLaren’s IndyCar squad for next season, but severed ties with McLaren and his own management team – Palou’s decision not to join McLaren has resulted in a legal battle starting between the two sides.

Who are McLaren F1’s reserve drivers?

With Palou and McLaren at loggerheads heading into the part of the season where the Spaniard was expected to take part in a rookie practice session for the F1 team, McLaren have instead added a new name to their books.

Former Haas driver Mick Schumacher, thanks to his Mercedes connection, remains one of the names available for call-up by McLaren, as well as Stoffel Vandoorne. However, neither of these will be eligible to take part in the required rookie testing in two practice sessions between now and the end of the year.

Felipe Drugovich is another in the reserve pool while, behind the scenes, McLaren also employ Oliver Turvey and Will Stevens as test and development drivers to help with simulator work.

On Friday in Japan, McLaren confirmed they have also signed Ryo Kirakawa as an F1 reserve driver, taking the place of Palou.

加入迈凯轮车队的司机开发计划署,嗨rakawa was a winning driver at the 2022 Le Mans 24 Hours and currently leads the 2023 Hypercar World Endurance Championship.

He’ll remain racing in the WEC with Toyota next year, but will get the chance to drive a McLaren MCL35M in a private test before the end of this season.

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Zak Brown: We thought we had Alex Palou…

Appearing on Sky F1 during Friday practice at Suzuka, McLaren CEO Zak Brown didn’t name Palou but took aim at the situation the Spanish racer had placed his team in for the rest of 2023.

“We have a few reserve drivers with the schedule being as big as it is,” Brown said.

“We’ve had a few reserve drivers, obviously we thought we had a reserve driver who’s decided not to show up here for the second half of the year.”

Speaking about the signing of Hirakawa, Brown said: “Ryo’s a big talent, we want to give him an opportunity to test our older car but, if we need a reserve driver, we’ll make a determination. We have a few others under contract.

“I think, in today’s day and age of Formula 1, you need to have a small group of drivers and then react if the situation presents itself where you need to put someone in the car.

“He knows how to drive a racecar!”

With Palou failing to show up for Singapore and Japan, where he was contracted to be as McLaren’s reserve, Brown spoke last week about whether his failure to attend would change anything in the legal case.

“Well, we only need a reserve driver if we need a reserve driver,” he said.

“So it’s very much business as usual. There shouldn’t be any issues with it.

“The legal case, I can’t really comment on. There is a legal case and that’s in London. We’ll see that through and then, in due course, what happened will all play out.”

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