O’Ward, Arrow McLaren Searching for the Next Step Up
Photo: Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment
By Dennis Krause
It’s not been a terrible season for Pato O’Ward in the NTT INDYCAR Series thus far.
Heading into this weekend’s 10th annual Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway outside of St. Louis, O’Ward has six top-five finishes to his credit. However, none of those have been on the podium.
For the driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, consistency in one thing, but it only gets you so far.
“Yeah, the consistency pays off very strongly whenever you start racking up some podiums and wins,” noted O’Ward. “We've yet to do that this year, but I'd say we've done a good amount of what is expected.
“I would say, of the standard that you expect from Arrow McLaren and myself, is to at least be in the fight in many of these weekends, and we have been. We're just missing that little bit to actually get a win or a podium, but I think we're closer.”
After Honda-powered cars won at Indianapolis and swept the podium at Detroit last weekend, O’Ward commented that the Chevrolets seemed to be lacking a little something.
“Obviously Honda is a great competitor of ours,” said O’Ward. “Team Chevy has been so helpful to us in honestly everything that we've asked from them.
“I know the weekend was a bit stressful from their side as well with having to change the engines and stuff like that, with some supplier issue. They obviously are working hard to give us what we want and what we need. We've had a lot of these meetings that we've expressed, not just us at Arrow McLaren, but with the Penske and the ECR guys, of exactly with where we need to keep push and extracting.
“I think right now Honda's got the upper hand, but doesn't mean that we can't catch up. I mean, it's always been a pretty good rivalry, and you never know what to expect from every year. I think right now we're still kind of trying to play catch-up, especially in these street courses where Honda always has been the lead.”
Photo: Karl Zemlin/Penske Entertainment
According to O’Ward, it doesn’t seem to be one big thing that is holding Arrow McLaren back. Rather, it’s a combination of many little things and nuances.
“I mean, obviously there's been a lot of changes, and even if there's not many changes in your main stand, but there are in mechanics and stuff like that. Just having a lot of rotation of people can bring in some random nuances.
“Like, it takes time,” O’Ward continued. “A team is a collaboration effort of a lot of people. It's not just one person. Like a driver, one person; like an engineer, one person; like a front-end mechanic. It's a collaboration between a lot of different hands, a lot of different eyes, a lot of different people. Sometimes it takes some time to kind of gel together and keep gelling together better.
“But I don't know, man. I don't know what it is. We're obviously still searching for that next step that I believe is going to put us right where we want to be in fighting the big dogs like Penske and Ganassi.
“Yeah, it's not easy. It's not easy to fight against these guys, because they've been at the lead ship the last decades and, honestly, forever. We're fighting up against the best, and that's where we want to put ourselves in.
“We're just actively searching for different opportunities.”
Photo: Aaron Skillman/Penske Entertainment
In addition to new personnel, one major transformation for the Arrow McLaren Indycar Team was the move to a new shop during the off-season. In a way, it could have contributed to some of the growing pains the team may be experiencing.
“With transformation you can expect some other areas to be maybe a little bit more trouble for a short-term of time. I think right now we are in that transformation, which is why maybe sometimes it can feel a little bit kind of like, Hey, you know, I feel like we've gone backwards.
“Sometimes you got to go backwards in order to go forwards,” added O’Ward, “take a bigger step forward. I think that's the best way I can explain it.
“It's not a lack of effort at all. I know everyone here is working so hard. I know T.K. Indycar team principal Tony Kanaan) is pushing so hard along with Zak (Brown, McLaren Racing CEO), and everybody that's leading this team is working extremely, extremely hard and to give ourselves those opportunities.
“But we're also realists, and we understand that some things do take time.”
Photo: Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment
On the positive side, O’Ward is currently fifth in the championship standings, and closer to leader Alex Palou than he was at this point of the season last year. While the Indianapolis 500 was a major focus for O’Ward, the race is now behind him. What remains is the rest of the season.
“Yeah, I mean, obviously we didn't win the Indy 500, so it's what we've got left. There's plenty of championship to go.
“I mean, there's more championship left than what has been done, and I think there's a huge opportunity to start scoring some bigger points than what we have to start the year off with.
“I think this weekend is going to be a big one. Road America has been a hit-or-miss in the past, but I do know we have a test there after Gateway right before the race, which should be helpful for us as well.
“Honestly, at this time last year I was at a bigger deficit to Palou, so I think this is a move in the right direction,” stated O’Ward. “Obviously not giving up on the championship hopes, but also being a realist that we need to up our game, and we need to start winning races and being on the podium if we just want to sniff the fight in this championship.
“That's truly what we're focused on. Sometimes when you're leading a championship, you can take a fourth and a fifth and just keep up the consistency, because that's what's going to let you breathe. But when you haven't quite had those bigger hit points days in a positive way, that's what you need to be searching for.
“We need to execute not with top-5s, but in the races where we know we have a strong car and where we can be good, we need to be driving for that win.”
Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute. Follow him on X @DennisKrause500 or motorsportsminute.bluesky.social or motorsportsminute on Threads or MotorsportsMinute+ on Facebook.