Rumors about McLaren’s IndyCar team have already begun following a concerning performance at Thermal Club.
During the 2024 season, Arrow McLaren swapped drivers more times in 15 months than Team Penske had in the last decade and a half.
Driver changes became the norm under Zak Brown’s leadership, but entering 2025, the team finally appeared to have a stable three-driver lineup.
Pato O’Ward consistently ranks just outside the elite group of title contenders and had his best season yet in 2024 with three wins. Christian Lundgaard joined after being a bright spot on an underperforming Rahal Letterman Lanigan team, and Nolan Siegel was so highly regarded by new team boss Tony Kanaan that McLaren dropped Theo Pourchaire mid-season to make room for him.
Despite being the most experienced of the trio, O’Ward is still only 25.
As expected, O’Ward continues to perform at a high level. He nearly won at Thermal Club and currently sits third in the standings. If not for a poor qualifying session at St. Pete, he’d likely be second. In that race, he surged from the back to 11th in a caution-free event.
Lundgaard has adapted well, proving that his move to a stronger team was more than hype. His performances back up the belief in his talent beyond what stats might suggest.
O’Ward and Lundgaard, in the No. 5 and No. 7 Chevrolets, secured the front row at Thermal and both landed on the podium. They are both in the top four of the championship standings, ahead of Penske’s trio: Newgarden, McLaughlin, and Power.
Their performances are helping McLaren finally challenge the top-tier teams, Penske and Ganassi, who have dominated the championship for the past 12 seasons.
On the other hand, Siegel is having a tough time.
While his crash in St. Petersburg wasn’t his fault—Power hit him—his lack of pace at Thermal Club was concerning, finishing 19th and nearly a lap down in a caution-free race.
Considering McLaren’s track record of quickly dropping underperforming drivers, it’s fair to question how long Siegel has to prove himself—regardless of Brown’s claim that Palou’s decision to stay with Ganassi unfairly hurt the team’s image.
Siegel only notched one top-10 in 10 races last season, and with nearly a year of experience now, his performance gap compared to teammates is increasingly hard to ignore.
It’s uncertain how patient McLaren will be with Siegel’s progress. Even though building a strong three-car lineup is difficult, Brown has been clear—he wants a team that wins championships, not just contends.
Brown’s no-nonsense approach to driver changes in Formula 1 helped make McLaren champions again and put them on track for possibly 20+ wins in 2025.
On the IndyCar side, unless McLaren becomes a title-winning team, leadership will continue to see room for improvement—regardless of whether the current lineup seems stable.
Siegel needs to improve quickly, though it’s unclear what the deadline is. With McLaren’s history, if he doesn’t make progress soon, a change may be inevitable.
