Arrow McLaren strongly believed they were going to be set with Alex Palou behind the wheel of the No. 6 Chevrolet for the 2024 IndyCar season and beyond, after Palou had intended to leave Chip Ganassi Racing but was ultimately forced to stay put for 2023.
But the now three-time IndyCar champion, knowing that a Formula 1 ride was no longer on the table, opted to remain with Chip Ganassi Racing for 2024, and that left McLaren needed to find a new driver to replace Felix Rosenqvist.
They went with David Malukas, despite reports later emerging that they did not consider him to be an "A-list" driver like they did Palou. But Malukas was hurt before the 2024 season began, and after he missed four races, the team released him.
Callum Ilott and Theo Pourchaire took turns replacing him before Pourchaire was named his full-time replacement, only for the team to replace Pourchaire with Nolan Siegel shortly thereafter.
Malukas found a new home with Meyer Shank Racing, and he ironically made his Meyer Shank Racing debut in the same race during which Siegel made his McLaren debut. In other words, McLaren would have been better off simply waiting for Malukas.
Malukas opted not to remain with Meyer Shank Racing and instead signed with A.J. Foyt Enterprises for the 2025 season, a move many believe puts him in the mix to move to Team Penske whenever Will Power retires.
The 23-year-old Chicago, Illinois native's speed has been no secret since arriving in IndyCar in 2022, specifically on ovals. The 2022 Indy 500's top rookie finisher stood on the podium in each of his first two seasons with Dale Coyne Racing, both times at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, and he was on for a similar result in last year's race with Meyer Shank Racing before ironically being taken out by Power.
But Malukas' true coming-out party took place in this year's Indy 500.
Malukas quietly qualified well on the third row in seventh place, and he was in the top five pretty much all race. He was the leader of his strategy in the latter stages of the race, but ultimately fell behind Alex Palou and Marcus Ericsson, with Ericsson on a slightly different fuel strategy.
Malukas placed third, but was promoted to second when Ericsson was penalized after his No. 28 Honda failed post-race technical inspection. In his first Indy 500 start in two years and just his third ever, he beat out every single McLaren driver, including two-time runner up Pato O'Ward, in third place.
Pretty good for a "non-A-list" driver, and while McLaren clearly didn't, a lot of fans certainly saw it coming.
It truly seemed like McLaren felt forced to sign Malukas after falling to 0-for-2 in the Palou sweepstakes, and then when he got hurt, they simply used that as an easy excuse to move on from him sooner than they inevitable would have anyway.
Remember, this is a team that, at one point last year, had made more driver changed in a 15-month span than Team Penske had in an ongoing 15-year span.
Even if we ignore the fact that Siegel has struggled and the No. 6 car's production has been lacking, it's pretty clear that this decision has already bit McLaren, and it could continue to bite them for years to come, whether Malukas stays at A.J. Foyt Enterprises, which have experienced a resurgence since forming their Team Penske technical alliance, or moves to Team Penske in the coming years.
In fact, Palou, fresh off his first Indy 500 win, spoke to Beyond the Flag and named Malukas, along with O'Ward, among the top candidates to become the next first-time winner of the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing".
"There's many, honestly," he admitted. "I think it’s quite clear like Pato at some point is going to get it, I don’t know if it’s going to be next year, in two or three or four, like he’s going to get it. I would say that I would not be surprised if Colton [Herta] gets it soon, sooner or just after Pato, but yeah, there are many, many people."
Following Palou's win, Herta is now the active leader in wins (nine) among non-Indy 500 winners.
"There are also people who are really good there, like Santino [Ferrucci] has done," Palou continued. "I think he has the best average on the last seven editions, and he’s always been there in the mix with different teams, different cars."
Ferrucci is Malukas' teammate and has seven top 10 finishes in seven Indy 500 starts, something no other driver has ever been able to say.
"And then Malukas, for example, he was one of the fastest cars, if not the fastest, out there," Palou stated. "And you always have that driver whom nobody expects, nobody talks about, and then suddenly wins it, and his career changes from then. So yeah, I don't know who that person is going to be, but it's going to be good."
It's pretty clear that Malukas is indeed a top-level driver, and it's not just Palou's prediction that backs that up; it's the fact that he just finished runner-up to Palou, who has won five out of six races this year, in the biggest race in the world in only his first oval start with his new team.
The Malukas situation was a big miss by McLaren, and Sunday's result could be a sign of things to come.