F1Weekly Podcast # 1116
Play Podcast: 10-13-25f1weekly1116.mp3
Palou states in court, Zack Brown promised F1 glory but then…Hired Oscar Piastri! As we prepare for the final races of the season, let’s not forget Jules Bianchi…It’s important. The Nasir Hameed corner brings you the show after the accident, our interviews are Peter Nygard, founder of grandprixphoto.com and, Indian driver Jehan Daruvala.
Accusations of duplicity and the surprise role played by Oscar Piastri’s infamous tweet denying he would race for Alpine are among new revelations from McLaren’s ongoing court case against IndyCar champion and would-be Formula 1 driver Alex Palou.
The crux of Palou’s argument is that he was misled by Brown into believing he had a clear-cut F1 opportunity with McLaren.
“At the time I thought he was genuine,” Palou said in his witness statement recalling the build-up to signing a McLaren contract in October 2022.
“I now consider that Zak made me think that there was an opportunity to have the full-time F1 seat as a negotiating tactic to get me to sign for McLaren’s IndyCar team.”
The reason this mattered is that Palou never wanted to race for McLaren in IndyCar.
He had just won the title with Chip Ganassi Racing when McLaren made an approach at the end of 2021. Palou claims to have instructed his then-management to reply to McLaren’s offer and say “I would only be interested in driving for McLaren in F1” and that “the only attraction to me in the approach from McLaren was the chance to go to F1”.
The deal that Palou subsequently agreed with McLaren in 2022 included private F1 testing, simulator work, Friday practice outings and a reserve role – but no specific guarantee of a race seat.
After McLaren then signed Piastri for 2023 – more on that in a moment – Palou felt his situation changed and that in 2023 he was a reserve and nothing more.
According to reports from the trial this week, Palou reiterated in his testimony that he felt he was not told “the truth” and McLaren was “misleading me” over his F1 prospects.
“I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 have put out a press release late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year. This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year.”
Current F1 championship leader Piastri’s infamous tweet on August 2, 2022, was a stunning moment as the then-Alpine protege rejected the team’s claim that he would replace Fernando Alonso in its F1 line-up in 2023.
Piastri had instead signed up for a shock McLaren switch to replace the struggling Daniel Ricciardo in a dramatic driver market saga, with his tweet a surprise twist that stunned everybody who read it – including Palou.
“In 2022, I saw Oscar Piastri posting tweets that were similar to mine,” Palou said.
“Oscar made it clear he would not be driving for Alpine’s F1 team but would be driving for McLaren’s F1 team.
“Around a month later, McLaren announced that Oscar would be on their F1 team for 2023.
“That was the first time things changed.”
Thoughts from Ferrari after Singapore:
Charles Leclerc #16 – P6
It was a really difficult race, unfortunately, a reflection of the whole weekend. Right from Friday, we struggled to find the right feeling with the car and we never managed to put everything together in the way we would have wanted. Today, in traffic it was impossible to move forward, as we also had to deal with cooling problems. Sadly, where we finished reflects where we are today.
Over the past two races we have encountered various difficulties that we must now analyse in detail, so that we can start improving again. The aim is to be better prepared and ready to fight with our main rivals in two weeks’ time in the United States.
Lewis Hamilton #44 – P8
It has been a challenging couple of days but there were definitely some positives to take. I’ve felt good in the car all weekend and we had a strong final third of the race. The Softs gave us great attacking pace and meant I could close down a big gap to the cars ahead, but unfortunately a brake issue cost us the overtake and the chance to score more points.
We had the potential to be further ahead this weekend, starting from qualifying, so the focus now is on maximising what we have going into Austin and executing cleanly to bring home as many points as possible.
Fred Vasseur Team Principal
First of all congratulations to McLaren for winning the Constructors’ Championship, it’s well deserved. On our side it was a tough weekend. We had a strong start of the weekend and after that we didn’t extract the full potential from the car in quali. In the race, cooling was an issue right from the beginning although when we were in clean air the pace was decent. Over the last 15 laps, Lewis had mega pace, but he pushed so hard to catch up those ahead that in the end he had a problem with the brakes overheating.
Clearly, the last couple of races, we have been a step behind our rivals. We need to improve the potential of the car and also our overall execution of the race weekend to ensure we are getting the best out of the car and from the drivers, because for sure, results like today’s are frustrating.
Starting from Austin, we need to get back to being in a position to have good pace throughout the entire weekend.
Williams Fan Zone at Austin
The Atlassian Williams Racing Fan Zone, presented by Kraken, is back in Austin for a fourth year, taking over 800 Congress Avenue from Monday 13 to Saturday 18 October to celebrate the 2025 United States Grand Prix in style.
This free-to-enter event brings fans closer to the team than ever, with interactive activities, exclusive merchandise, and, most notably, our live Q&A sessions.
This year, we’ll be hosting two live Q&A’s throughout the week:
Alex Albon will take the stage on Wednesday, October 15th at 6PM local time (12AM BST/7PM EST).
Team Principal, James Vowles and Jenson Button will take the stage together on Thursday, October 16th at 6PM local time (12AM BST/7PM EST)
Can’t make it to Austin? Stream each of these Q&A’s live on our site and within the Atlassian Williams Racing app! Be sure to opt into our messaging so that you are notified as soon as it goes live.
Peter Nygard photos,
Nasir used Peter’s photos for many years in his calendar…
To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Formula 1 World Championship this calendar pays homage to Championship winning Grand Prix Greats.
America’s own Mario Andretti graces the cover at Monza Autodromo. The Temple of
Speed where he saw his childhood hero Alberto Ascari race, and where he took his
final pole position and podium in 1982.
Other legendary drivers featured include Emerson Fittipaldi. Two-time F1 world
champion and Indy 500 winner. Ayrton Senna, the standard of intensity. “The
Professor” Alain Prost. Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton, the only seven-
time world champions. The Force of Nature known as Max Verstappen and more. Here…
