{"id":490360,"date":"2025-10-11T06:52:29","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T06:52:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/490360\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T06:52:29","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T06:52:29","slug":"mclaren-boss-denies-destroying-evidence-in-15-4m-case-against-driver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/490360\/","title":{"rendered":"McLaren boss denies destroying evidence in \u00a315.4m case against driver"},"content":{"rendered":"

The McLaren team principal, Zak Brown, has been accused of destroying evidence in a case involving IndyCar champion \u00c1lex Palou, who reneged on his agreement to drive for the team.<\/p>\n

Brown was cross-examined in the High Court by Palou\u2019s KC Nick de Marco this week, who confronted him with a series of WhatsApp messages the defendant submitted just before the hearing \u2014 including one where the McLaren chief tells others to delete messages.<\/p>\n

Palou, 28, agreed in October 2022 to drive for McLaren from 2024, but in August 2023 he announced that he would not fulfil the agreement. He has admitted breach of contract but disputes that he should pay damages \u2014 McLaren are claiming $20.7million (\u00a315.4million).<\/p>\n

\"McLaren<\/p>\n

Brown, left, seen with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, was confronted with a series of WhatsApp messages while being cross-examined<\/p>\n

BRYN LENNON \u2013 FORMULA 1\/FORMULA 1 VIA GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

De Marco challenged Brown over the WhatsApp messages, but the McLaren boss denied destroying any evidence.<\/p>\n

In one group message from Brown in August 2023, just before Palou\u2019s decision to remain with the Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) team was made public, he wrote: \u201cKeep everything WhatsApp amd [sic] then delete.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown also told the court that using the disappearing messages function was \u201cnormal business policy\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Spanish<\/p>\n

Palou, 28, admits breach of contract but disputes that he should pay the damages that McLaren are claiming<\/p>\n

TAYFUN SALCI\/ZUMA PRESS WIRE<\/p>\n

De Marco challenged him saying: \u201cYou have destroyed evidence in this case. You have deliberately turned on disappearing messages after you have been told not to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown replied: \u201cI was not destroying evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court was also shown the former McLaren IndyCar team manager, Gavin Ward, telling a journalist after his job was terminated that \u201cturning off McLaren\u2019s mandated seven\u2212day disappearing messages setting feels truly liberating\u201d.<\/p>\n

Asked why the function was used, Ward replied: \u201cYep . . . to cover their ass on lawsuits. Talk about a red flag.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown responded in court saying: \u201cThis has nothing to do with me. I think it\u2019s his opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The High Court is due to hear further argument from Palou\u2019s legal team about McLaren\u2019s use of nicotine advertising.<\/p>\n

Rebrand sends the circus packing<\/p>\n

The rebranding of the European Club Association as \u201cEuropean Football Clubs\u201d means the organisation will no longer face complaints from the European Circus Association that it had the rights to the ECA acronym (insert your own joke here . . .).<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t just the circus acts that had protested \u2014 there had also been contact from the European Cheerleaders Association.<\/p>\n

Gaza ceasefire strengthens love-in<\/p>\n

Fifa\u2019s president Gianni Infantino rarely wastes an opportunity to lavish praise on Donald Trump and certainly did not do so this week when welcoming the ceasefire in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone around the world should now fully support this peace process. President Donald J Trump definitely deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for his decisive actions,\u201d Infantino posted on Instagram.<\/p>\n

\"Donald<\/p>\n

Infantino is convinced that his pal Trump should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize<\/p>\n

RON SACHS\/CNP \/ SPLASH<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s plan certainly averted a Uefa vote to ban Israel from European competition, a threat sources said created consternation among Israel\u2019s political leadership as they feared other sports would follow suit.<\/p>\n

Oyston, 91, takes Blackpool to court<\/p>\n

Owen Oyston, the 91-year-old controversial former owner of Blackpool FC, is going to court to fight an attempt by the club to evict him from a penthouse flat in the stadium.<\/p>\n

It is not known if Oyston ever visits the apartment or stays there but the case has been listed for next month. Oyston was found by a High Court judge in 2017 to have taken \u00a326.77million from the club in an \u201cillegitimate stripping\u201d of their resources after promotion to the Premier League in 2010. <\/p>\n

Tigers hard man brought to book\"The<\/p>\n

White after Leicester\u2019s 1981 John Player Cup final victory at Twickenham<\/p>\n

ADRIAN MURRELL\/ALLSPORT\/GETTY IMAGES\/HULTON ARCHIVE<\/p>\n

The former Leicester Tigers prop, Martin Whitcombe, has written a book on the life of Chalkie White, the coach who made the team a feared force during the 1970s and 80s, but was bizarrely overlooked by England.<\/p>\n

White introduced tactics and fitness to Leicester at a time when many clubs were wedded to an amateur approach. Whitcombe\u2019s book includes recollections from the former England fly half, Les Cusworth, of White being \u201ca very hard man\u201d who would take him to task for kicking the ball when there was an opportunity to run it.<\/p>\n

During the squad\u2019s intense fitness sessions, Cusworth remembers White\u2019s voice booming: \u201cWhile you\u2019re doing this, other teams will already be in the bar.\u201d Whitcombe\u2019s son James also played as prop for Leicester before moving to Edinburgh at the start of this season.<\/p>\n

Jockey club put shirt on Stylsvig<\/p>\n

Casper Stylsvig, Chelsea\u2019s former chief revenue officer, has joined the Hong Kong Jockey Club \u2014 which has an annual turnover of $38billion \u2014 as executive director, sports business.<\/p>\n

Stylsvig, who previously worked at Barcelona, Manchester United and AC Milan, said his appointment was \u201can incredible honour\u201d. Meanwhile Chelsea are still without a shirt sponsor which would be willing to pay a fee that is deemed acceptable by the owners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The McLaren team principal, Zak Brown, has been accused of destroying evidence in a case involving IndyCar champion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[4199,707,4200,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-490360","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-f1","9":"tag-formula-1","10":"tag-formula1","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115354216393709667","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}