IndyCar: Don’t criticize Oliver Askew, Patricio O’Ward for James Hinchcliffe snub

By Asher Fair | Nov 2, 2019

MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 20: James Hinchcliffe #5 of United States and Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda prepares to drive during practice for the NTT IndyCar Series Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on September 20, 2019 in Monterey, California. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /

The criticism toward Oliver Askew and Patricio O’Ward over the fact that James Hinchcliffe lost his ride for the 2020 IndyCar season is beyond naive.

James Hinchcliffe had a contract to drive for Arrow McLaren Racing SP in the 2020 IndyCar season.

It was confirmed on multiple occasions, and by a number of individuals within Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and McLaren after the two teams former a partnership to become Arrow McLaren Racing SP and switch from Honda engines to Chevrolet engines, including but not limited to Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports co-owner Sam Schmidt and McLaren CEO Zak Brown.

It’s still 2019, yet now the 32-year-old Canadian is out of a ride for next year.

That is because Arrow McLaren Racing SP, confirming the speculation that Schmidt “shot down” months ago, confirmed that 2018 and 2019 Indy Lights champions Patricio O’Ward and Oliver Askew are set to be the team’s two full-time drivers next year.

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Hinchcliffe will have to hope he can land a ride with a Honda team, but the funding that the Honda spokesman would get from Honda and counterpart Honda Canada would not be enough in itself to land a full-time ride.

The two-time Most Popular Driver Award winner may very well not be on the grid next year in a full-time capacity.

So often fans take to social media to criticize teams for signing money over talent, and they criticize drivers for bringing money to the table and not “earning” their rides.

Arrow McLaren Racing SP did just the opposite; they signed two talented yet inexperienced youngsters. They’re even set up to pay Hinchcliffe to not drive, as he is still technically “under contract” with the team, provided he does not sign a deal with another team for the 2020 season.

But the fact that the contracts of these two drivers came at the expense of a supposedly secure ride through 2020 of another has fans fuming.

And rightfully so, especially considering just how many times Schmidt among others said that the fan-favorite Hinchcliffe would be back with the team next year, even stating that he was “not sure why there was all that speculation” that that would not be the case.

Now we know.

The problem is that fans are taking it out on O’Ward and Askew, who have wronged absolutely nobody throughout this entire process — and they have earned their rides by doing things what fans would, any other day, consider the “right way”.

Look at O’Ward’s journey.

After four years competing in the Road to Indy in the Pro Mazda Championship and Indy Lights, he landed a full-time ride with Harding Steinbrenner Racing. Before the season even began, he was cut. Why? Lack of funding.

He ended up landing a part-time ride with Carlin, which he utilized to compete in seven of his 13 planned races, but he opted to sign with the Red Bull Junior Team in pursuit of a Formula 1 career, a move criticized by fans. But could you blame him, especially after his “contract” with Harding Steinbrenner Racing amounted to zero races?

Now he earns a legitimate full-time ride in IndyCar, and fans are still clamoring in disapproval.

Look at Askew’s journey.

How many drivers climb every rung of the Road to Indy ladder anymore, from the U.S. F2000 National Championship to the Pro Mazda Championship to Indy Lights and then finally to the top — IndyCar? And he didn’t just climb it; he owned the ascent, winning 15 of 48 races and two of three championships.

Yes, he won a $1 million scholarship to compete in IndyCar on some level in 2020 by winning the 2019 Indy Lights title. But that’s just it; he earned it, not somebody else.

Isn’t this the exact sort of thing that fans claim to want more of?

Yet here they are, wishing nothing but negativity on two promising young drivers solely because an organization didn’t keep their word about somebody else.

Grow up.

Comments have ranged from hoping they DNF in every race to mocking their appearance in the picture used in the team’s press release to claiming they won’t be able to keep their cars off the wall.

It wasn’t O’Ward saying “I’m not going to McLaren next year; that’s Hinch’s ride.” It wasn’t Askew saying “I had talks with Arrow McLaren SP, but that ultimately fell though due to Hinch’s contract.”

No — it was false claims made by the organization that indicated Hinchcliffe was safe for next year; nothing more, nothing less.

Heck, Askew even turned down a ride with Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports as Hinchcliffe’s replacement in the season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca when the team tried to replace him for a separate matter. Give him some credit.

But the two young kids, a 20-year-old Mexican and a 22-year-old native of Jupiter, Florida, are easy targets, even though they are the exact models of what the “die-hard, old-school” fans claim to admire in an era of motorsports full of ride buyers and teenage sons of rich businessmen.

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Instead of ripping two youngsters who earned their full-time IndyCar rides by what would be considered the “right way” any other time, appreciate the fact that Arrow McLaren Racing SP did what hardly any teams in any series seem to do anymore by prioritizing talent above all else.