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Spaniard Álex Palou, center, has been at the center of a team battle over his IndyCars future.
Alex Palou will stay with Chip Ganassi Racing next season in a deal that allows the former IndyCar champion to test Formula 1 with McLaren, and Felix Rosenqvist will retain his seat in a pair of quick one-season resolutions wild and silly.
Palou, teammate of New Zealand star and six-time champion Scott Dixon, and Ganassi have been locked in a feud since July when the team said they had picked a 2023 option on the Spaniard. Palou refuted Ganassi’s claim and said he was moving to McLaren Racing instead.
Ganassi then took him to court, and the parties used both mediation and the courts to determine which team would claim Palou next year. The first signs that a solution was near came on Sunday during the season finale at Laguna Seca Raceway, where Palou won the race and was then elusive about how his contract situation was unfolding.
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The Kiwi driver was quick to call his family after his breakthrough in Florida.
He said he expected to speak to team owner Chip Ganassi and hear back very soon. It came on Thursday (NZT) when he tweeted that he had reached a deal to lead the No.10 next year for a third straight season.
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Palou said he was grateful that Ganassi also allowed him to “continue F1 testing” with McLaren outside of his IndyCar commitments.
Minutes after Palou’s announcement, McLaren announced that Rosenqvist would return to No. 7 in IndyCar next season. The Swede has been in limbo for months. He had agreed to a deal with McLaren to join its new Formula E team next season if there was no seat for him in IndyCar.
The Palou saga was delaying McLaren’s plans for its three-car IndyCar lineup, and Rosenqvist decided it no longer wanted to move to Formula E. McLaren retained the IndyCar option on Rosenqvist until the end of September and, then that the Palou affair dragged on, was going to be forced to release him to sign with another team or get away from the Palou mess and keep Rosenqvist.
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Felix Rosenqvist will remain with McLaren for the 2023 IndyCar Championship.
“There’s no better way to enter the offseason than with this news,” Rosenqvist said. “I love this team and I’m so happy to continue working with all the amazing people I’ve come to know over the past two seasons.”
The team is expanding next year to add a third car for Alexander Rossi, and Rosenqvist and McLaren driver Pato O’Ward have become extremely close over their two seasons as teammates.
“With everything the team has in the pipeline, the ongoing relationship with Pato and the addition of Alex Rossi, we’re going to bring our A-game for 2023,” Rosenqvist said. “It will be the most exciting season for me so far.”
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