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McLaren may have had a short spell as a full-time co-entrant in IndyCar so far, but its rollercoaster ride makes it feel like it’s been here forever.
Now the Formula 1 outfit has taken a controlling stake in Arrow McLaren SP, The Race has picked out its best and worst moments since it ‘joined’ the grid in 2020.
A long wait for a first win ends
After scoring three second places in its first year in 2020, there was no doubt what the aim was for Pato O’Ward and Arrow McLaren SP in 2021: win a race.
O’Ward scored pole position for the opening race of the year at Barber, on a weekend when Zak Brown promised O’Ward an F1 test if he won a race. However, the win slipped agonisingly through their hands with the wrong race strategy that meant O’Ward had to pull off a brilliant comeback drive merely to come fourth.
A hopeless weekend in St Petersburg with an ill-handling car only added fuel to the fire of desire for victory, but then O’Ward bettered a third in the first Texas race to win the second, which was the fourth round of the season.
A good strategy helped O’Ward undercut forwards, but it was a daring move on double champion Josef Newgarden of Penske with 25 laps to go that summed up everything about this team: young, daring and willing to be aggressive to steal the spoils.
O’Ward earned an F1 test out of it and the team got the gratification of ending a long barren run, knowing it had what it took to be at the front in IndyCar.
O’Ward proves any doubters wrong with raw speed
O’Ward had only done a handful of IndyCar races with Carlin in 2019 in which he wasn’t able to truly shine, and then headed off for an ill-fated stint with Red Bull in Europe and then Japan.
That meant his return to America was met with uncertainty over just how good he was.
That changed at the fourth race in 2020, at Road America. Having finished 12th at Texas, eighth on the Indianapolis road course and then eighth again in the first race of the weekend at Road America, O’Ward pulled out the kind of lap that has become synonymous with his driving.
With his aggressive style and quick hands, he’s the only driver over the last two seasons who has truly tamed the wayward AMSP car on a regular basis and at Road Atlanta, he proved it by snatching pole in a very young front row alongside Colton Herta.
In the race a team characteristic would rear its ugly head – it lunched its tyres late on – but the qualifying lap sent out a message that O’Ward and the team had the pace to cause problems for the usual series frontrunners.
A shock reunion with Magnussen
Rarely can a team pull off a truly surprising driver move in the modern age. Word usually leaks out or journalists are informed ahead of time to prepare for an embargoed announcement.
However, Arrow McLaren SP pulled it off when at extremely short notice it announced Kevin Magnussen would race at Road America this year in place of the injured Felix Rosenqvist.
The team’s ex-driver Oliver Askew had stepped in for Detroit the previous weekend, but former F1 driver Magnussen rekindled his McLaren relationship to race for the team on one of the most challenging tracks on the calendar.
An electrical issue ended his race after he had led early on through a strategy gamble, and the team reckons he could have been on for a top 10 on his debut.
If the result was disappointing, Magnussen’s performance was anything but and the team made it perfectly clear it would be happy to have him back in the future…
No fairytale for Alonso
Working with legendary engineer Craig Hampson for the first time ahead of a third go at the Indianapolis 500, hopes were high for Fernando Alonso in 2019.
But a crash in practice set about a chain of events that led to a failure to live up to expectations at one of the biggest events in US motorsport.
Alonso could only qualify 26th – albeit better than his infamous DNQ in 2019. Admittedly the Chevrolet-powered cars struggled but team-mate O’Ward was able to manage 15th and sealed the rookie of the year honour for rising to sixth in the race, while a clutch issue didn’t help Alonso who was mired in the pack the majority of the race and came 21st.
Alonso’s bad luck at Indy continued, but unlike before he had just as much to answer for as his team’s car or reliability.
Don’t upset IndyCar’s most popular driver
Pissing off IndyCar’s top driver is not the way to kick off a fresh start in IndyCar. After seemingly being reassured he had a seat despite McLaren taking into the team, long-time Schmidt driver James Hinchcliffe was dropped by Arrow McLaren SP for 2020 with little time for him to find an alternative.
The team switching from Honda to Chevrolet had posed an issue as Hinch is a long-term Honda ambassador. But however you look at it, even if the team had no choice, leaving him without a ride having previously reassured him of one wasn’t the way to celebrate the new Arrow McLaren SP partnership beginning.
Askew: The worst possible timing
Another driver market move that caused a stir. Indy Lights champion Askew was taken on for 2020 alongside O’Ward and initially showed promise by reaching the Fast Six at Indianapolis for the team’s first time in its new guise, while he added a podium at Iowa three races later.
However, following a crash at the Indy 500, his form dipped and the team made the decision to replace him with Rosenqvist for 2021.
The timing of the move couldn’t have been worse as it emerged that Askew had been racing with a concussion just as the team revealed he wouldn’t be renewed.
It’s clear AMSP didn’t drop Askew because he had a concussion, but the timing was poor.
With a tricky start to his IndyCar career and without the more than $1million he’d put towards his 2020 campaign with AMSP through a scholarship for winning Indy Lights, the modestly-backed Askew was left on the sidelines.
A return to the team to replace Rosenqvist at Detroit race two this year was a welcome reunion for that team and for Askew to get some closure on what was a heartbreaking early ‘end’ to his IndyCar career, which he believes now could be back on track.
There’s no way he’s that bad
Rosenqvist is the kind of driver who, if he appears on the market, has to be quite high up or even top of the list you’d want to sign for almost any series.
The 2019 IndyCar rookie of the year had a tough sophomore year with Ganassi, but a switch to AMSP was supposed to signal a chance for him to shape and lead a team.
However, errors and a sprinkling of bad luck have worked against this proven race winner.
He has struggled to adapt to the AMSP car – as did Juan Pablo Montoya, who came in for the Indianapolis GP and 500 – as its unpredictable rear end can prove difficult to cope with. The car’s set-up philosophy, on the whole, can produce some unpredictable handling traits.
Rosenqvist and the team have been working on making the car more driveable and he earned his best result with the team by finishing eighth at Nashville last weekend which suggests the changes are beginning to work.
With the drama surrounding the decision to release Askew, a struggle for results was the last thing AMSP needed to justify the move for Rosenqvist.
But he hasn’t lost talent overnight and it must only be a matter of time before he’s threatening the front of the order again, at least on a semi-regular basis.
