Court exposes multimillion-dollar price of F1 test drives

Legal filings in McLaren’s court battle with Indycar star Alex Palou have revealed how much some drivers pay for limited Formula 1 track time, with sums reaching several million dollars.

Documents cited by Sky Deutschland show that Japanese Toyota factory driver Ryo Hirakawa paid about USD $3.5m for a package including two private tests and one grand prix weekend practice session with McLaren.

The 31-year-old, who later became Alpine’s reserve and most recently drove for Haas in Bahrain, made his FP1 debut at Abu Dhabi in 2024, a chance reportedly funded partly by Toyota.

The figures surfaced as McLaren pursues $20.7m in damages from Palou for backing out of his planned Indycar move, describing his 2022 Austin FP1 appearance as “wasted expenditure.”

In the same filings, McLaren CEO Zak Brown confirmed how expensive early testing can be, noting that “even Lando” Norris had to pay for initial test outings before becoming a full-time Formula 1 driver.