Nobody saw coming what Robert Shwartzman pulled off at Indianapolis Motor Speedway over the weekend, taking a stunning pole position for the 109th running of the Indy 500 in his first ever oval qualifying attempt – and for his team's first ever oval race.
Prema Racing are new to IndyCar this year, and in addition to Shwartzman becoming the first rookie polesitter for the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing" since Teo Fabi with Forsythe Racing in 1983, the team became the first pole-winning team that had never before competed in the race since 1984, when Mayer Motor Racing qualified first and second with Tom Sneva and Howdy Holmes.
This is a team that have never finished higher than 18th place for an IndyCar race, and they had never qualified higher than 16th.
Nobody in the IndyCar paddock, aside from Prema Racing, really knew what the 25-year-old Israeli, a former Ferrari Formula 1 reserve driver, was capable of.
Now they do.
And you can bet that McLaren CEO Zak Brown is taking notice.
McLaren's driver lineup is headlined by Pato O'Ward, who has won seven races, finished as high as third place in the championship, and scored two runner-up finishes in the Indy 500 since joining the team in 2020, and newcomer Christian Lundgaard, who has hit the ground running since coming over from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
Nolan Siegel hasn't been awful, but he is well behind his teammates both on pace and production in the point standings, despite having spent the second half of the 2024 season with the team.
And given McLaren's interesting history when it comes to changing drivers (at one point last year, they had made more driver changes over 15 months than Team Penske had over 15 years), you'd have to believe that it will not take long for their patience to run thin.
They tried to sign Alex Palou away from Chip Ganassi Racing in 2022 for 2023, and the lawsuit that stemmed from Palou reneging on agreement that would have seen him join the team in 2024 is still ongoing.
Over on the Formula 1 side, Alpine confirmed the promotion of reserve driver Oscar Piastri to their full-time lineup for 2023, only for Piastri to deny that he had accepted that role, and though it wasn't announced at the time, it later emerged that he had already been signed by McLaren (to the ride Palou thought could be his, ironically).
Palou has since won two straight IndyCar championships and is the current points leader, while Piastri currently leads the Formula 1 world championship standings.
In a series as competitive as IndyCar is, it's hard to judge a driver based on their performance with a new team. Just look at Palou; when Chip Ganassi Racing signed him from Dale Coyne Racing after his 2020 rookie season for 2021, there were question marks about whether or not the move made sense.
Three championships in four years later, it obviously did.
You better believe that Shwartzman, whose pre-IndyCar resume is impressive for those who followed his career before his IndyCar arrival, is now firmly on Brown's radar. The cockpit of Siegel's No. 6 Chevrolet is getting warm, and Brown, as we know, will stop at nothing to sign who he wants to sign.
Now that America has finally gotten to see more than just a glimpse of his potential, Shwartzman is suddenly the hottest name to watch.
It would be shocking if Brown isn't already plotting.
The 109th running of the Indy 500 is set to be shown live on Fox from Indianapolis Motor Speedway beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, May 25. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action from the "Racing Capital of the World"!