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IndyCar: If McLaren-Arrow SPM partnership happens, what’s next?

By Asher Fair

FORT WORTH, TEXAS - JUNE 07: James Hinchcliffe of Canada, driver of the #5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motosports Honda, drives during practice for the NTT IndyCar Series - DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 07, 2019 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
FORT WORTH, TEXAS - JUNE 07: James Hinchcliffe of Canada, driver of the #5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motosports Honda, drives during practice for the NTT IndyCar Series - DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 07, 2019 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /
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If McLaren and Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports do form a partnership for the 2020 IndyCar season, what would happen next?

For the third consecutive year, McLaren find themselves at the forefront of IndyCar Silly Season rumors. This time, they have been rumored to join the series on a full-time basis as a two-car effort via a partnership with Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.

But as many fans well know, McLaren cannot work with Honda. Period. Their three-year stint together in Formula 1 from the 2015 season through the 2017 season resulted in disaster and a complete deterioration of their relationship that caused the Japanese manufacturer to refuse to supply the Woking-based team engines even solely for the Indianapolis 500.

That ended in an even bigger disaster for McLaren when they failed to qualify for the race with two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso driving a Chevrolet-powered car through a technical alliance with Carlin, which saw two of their three drivers fail to qualify for the race as well.

Unfortunately for McLaren, Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports have one year left on their contract with Honda after 2019, and team co-owner Sam Schmidt made this clear.

Here is what Schmidt had to say about the matter, according to NBC Sports.

"“Again, we have another year on our contract with Honda. The company has stated perfectly clear they can’t be associated with (McLaren CEO) Zak Brown or McLaren, so I think that alienates us from that program.”"

However, McLaren are still pursuing a partnership to land themselves in IndyCar on a full-time basis next year, and Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports are still the lead candidates to be a part of this alliance.

Assuming that McLaren and Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports actually do form a partnership for the 2020 season and the “Will McLaren join IndyCar full-time?” saga finally reaches its official endpoint after more than two years, what would happen next?

First of all, they would be running Chevrolet engines. They would have to be, barring a miraculous change of heart by Honda. What would this mean for Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ contract with Honda?

Considering what happened at Harding Steinbrenner Racing before the 2019 season began, it may not actually be a huge deal, and Honda could potentially welcome a mutual severance of ties with Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports because of it.

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Right after the 2018 season ended, Harding Racing formed a partnership with Steinbrenner Racing to become Harding Steinbrenner Racing, and they announced Patricio O’Ward and Colton Herta as their drivers.

At this point, they were a Chevrolet team, but a lot of people within the IndyCar paddock took exception to the fact that Harding Racing, which fielded entries for both of these drivers in the season finale at Sonoma Raceway, were relying on a technical partnership with the Honda-powered Andretti Autosport team for this race.

As a result, Harding Steinbrenner Racing officially aligned with Honda, but not until roughly two and a half months after the season ended. As expected, they confirmed their technical alliance with Andretti Autosport.

Two months later and not even one month before the 2019 season was scheduled to begin, O’Ward was released by the team, as they had only secured one full-time engine lease from Honda.

Because of Harding Steinbrenner Racing’s mid-offseason switch to Honda engines, Honda was slated to power 14 of the 23 full-time entries in the field. Coupled with a lack of sponsorship on O’Ward’s part aside of his $1 million scholarship for winning the 2018 Indy Lights championship and past financial instability at Harding Racing, this was destined to fail.

Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and Honda agreeing to end their contract one year early would not only give the former flexibility to form a partnership with McLaren, but it would give the latter flexibility as it pertains to other possibilities, such as Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing expanding to become a three-car team, a potential fifth Andretti Autosport car or simply powering fewer cars.

But where would this leave James Hinchcliffe?

Hinchcliffe is the key piece of this puzzle if this partnership comes to fruition. He is under contract with Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports through the 2020 season, and his ties to Honda are even known by people who can’t tell the difference between IndyCar and NASCAR, as he regularly appears in various Honda commercials.

As a result, he would likely have to find a home at another Honda team. If Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing expand, that could be an option. If they expand and sign Santino Ferrucci, who has the option to return to Dale Coyne Racing, instead, then Dale Coyne Racing could be an option.

A fifth Andretti Autosport car also can’t be ruled out if the funding is there, especially given the team’s new multi-year contract extension with Honda. Additionally, the team were willing to run O’Ward in eight of the 2019 season’s 17 races in a fifth car, but he ultimately turned them down.

McLaren have made clear that they intend to target Herta if they are successful in entering IndyCar. Herta is under contract with Harding Steinbrenner Racing for the 2020 season, and his contract binds him to Andretti Technologies.

However, several other drivers have been “under contract” with Harding Racing and then been cut by the team. A fifth Andretti Autosport car could also be an option for him, but if they are unwilling and/or unable to provide that car, he could most definitely end up at McLaren.

As for Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, they have committed to running no more than two cars in the 2020 season. However, this may or may not include McLaren’s entries. Rookie Marcus Ericsson wants to return to the team next year, and fellow former Formula 1 driver Felipe Nasr recently tested for them as well.

Then there are the two Indy Lights championship frontrunners, points leader Oliver Askew of Andretti Autosport and second place Rinus van Kalmthout (Rinus VeeKay) of Juncos Racing. They recently tested for Chip Ganassi Racing and Ed Carpenter Racing, respectively. If McLaren can’t sign Herta, or even if they do, would either one of these two drivers be of interest to the team?

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Bottom line, McLaren forming a partnership with Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports for the 2020 IndyCar season could set numerous other moves in motion, and there are literally hundreds of possible combinations regarding what might happen.

Of course, if McLaren end up not joining IndyCar (again) or forming a partnership with a team already aligned with Chevrolet, things should be a lot simpler even though there will still be seats to fill, as there would be a much smaller domino effect.