McLaren will resort to their old ways mid-season
Nolan Siegel being taken out by Will Power was not at all his fault. Having said that, if he does not recover with at least one or two top 10 results before the Indy 500, speculation about Arrow McLaren resorting to another season of musical chairs is inevitable, given their recent history.
This is a team that has not hesitated to change drivers if they feel somebody is underperforming. At one point, they had made more driver changes in 15 months than Penske had in the last 15 years.
But that is still an overreaction.
Tony Kanaan is now the team principal, and he was promoted over the offseason after effectively putting his job on the line to secure Siegel the seat that had already been promised to Theo Pourchaire. So I don't think we see a mid-season driver change here, even with Siegel under pressure to perform after a relatively lackluster finish to the 2024 season.
That said, St. Petersburg was still a terrible start to the season for a team regularly (and always incorrectly) overhyped during the preseason as title contenders.
Pato O'Ward qualified poorly in 23rd place and could only rally to 11th while Christian Lundgaard's tire strategy did not pay off. He still managed eighth in his first start for the team, but once again, this team is not yet ready to challenge Penske or Ganassi over an entire season.
The Indy 500 is once again their best shot to make serious waves.
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