F1 Test Drives: The High Costs Exposed by Court Documents
Oct.16 - The ongoing McLaren court case against Indycar champion Alex Palou has shed rare light on the vast sums drivers can pay for limited Formula 1 track time.
According to Sky Deutschland, newly released documents show that Japanese Toyota factory driver Ryo Hirakawa paid a staggering USD $3.5 million for a package consisting of a single grand prix weekend free practice session and two preparatory tests with McLaren.
The 31-year-old, who later joined Alpine and most recently tested for Haas, made his F1 debut in FP1 at Abu Dhabi in 2024 - but the opportunity came at an extraordinary cost, reportedly covered in part by Toyota.
The financial details emerged as part of McLaren's $20.7 million damages claim against Palou, who withdrew from his contracted Indycar switch to remain with Chip Ganassi Racing. McLaren's legal filings described the Spaniard's FP1 outing at the 2022 Austin GP as "wasted expenditure," revealing the amounts paid by other drivers for similar testing programs.
In testimony cited by Sky Deutschland, McLaren CEO Zak Brown also admitted that "even Lando" Norris once had to pay for early test outings before earning a full-time contract.
