Intro To IndyCar - Arrow McLaren - Pt 1 - Team
On to the next team on the IndyCar grid.
Luckily, they are one of the youngest teams currently on there, and in this form, less than five years old.
Arrow McLaren was founded in 2001 as Sam Schmidt Motorsports. Founder Sam Schmidt was in an accident in 2000 which left him quadriplegic (some level of paralysis in all four limbs). Once Sam recovered, he pivoted to owning a team.
In the beginning, he couldn't afford full seasons, mostly running a driver in the 500 every year.
While the previous four teams I've talked about (Penske, CGR, Andretti) have all had struggles, none of them were nearly as severe financially for such a long time as Sam Schmidt Motorsports was.
In fact, they did not have a driver run every single race until 2012. At that point in time, former driver Davey Hamilton (the first driver to ever run under the SSM name at the 500) returned to the team and brought adequate funding for driver Simon Pagenaud to run all fifteen races. In 2012 they ran as Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports.
After that, Canadian businessman Ric Peterson purchased a stake in the team in 2013 and they pivoted to Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. This pivot went especially well, s Pagenaud won their first race during the second Detroit race and came third overall in the championship. Pagenaud won twice the following season before departing for Penske in 2015.
Although they lost their star driver in Pagneaud, they'd replaced him with a well liked personality in Canadian James Hinchcliffe. For those who are reviewing after watching the broadcast - yes THAT James Hinchcliffe.
Their partnership started strong, with Hinchcliffe winning his second race with SPM in New Orleans. However, his strong start to the season was cut short after he suffered a life threatening accident at the 500 and was withdrawn for the rest of the season.
Fortunately, this story has a happy ending. Hinchcliffe made a spectacular recovery and returned to racing the following season.
However, it took SPM almost two full years to bring home another win. Again, the win is credited to Hinchcliffe, who was 2018's master of the corn, winning at the oval of Iowa. This ended up being SPM's last win of the 2010's; Hinchcliffe would last one final season with SPM before departing for Andretti in 2020.
But the most interesting part of 2019 was not it being Hinchcliffe's final run with the team. In fact, it was the addition of electronics supplier Arrow Electronics as a title sponsor, making them Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.
2020 then brought in the big change; as you can see, neither Schmidt nor Peterson is a name that is included in the team name.
Love him or hate him, 2020 brought Zak Brown to what was then Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. For those of you unaware of his existence, Zak Brown is an American businessman who joined McLaren Technology Group as their executive director in 2016. Brown has a long standing history with racing, and in 2018, became the CEO of McLaren Racing, which oversees McLaren F1 team. This partnership has brought life back to the McLaren F1 program through time, care, and thorough networking of sponsors on Brown's part.
Brown's interest was not solely in Formula 1, and in 2020, McLaren, Arrow and SMP came into agreement to become a joint entry in IndyCar, rebranded as Arrow McLaren SP.
Along with McLaren came Patricio O'Ward, who has become their banner driver in the way driver Lando Norris has become McLaren's banner F1 driver. Though O'Ward didn't win a race in 2020, he performed so consistently he managed to put their car into fourth in championship standings.
The last time the team had been even close to that was with Pagenaud in 2013.
2021 was a mixed bag for the team. Running only two full time cars, they saw a big difference in the number 5 car of O'Ward and the number 7 car of Rosenqvist. O'Ward placed third in the championship, while Rosenqvist placed twenty first. O'Ward returned the team to the top step not once but twice in 2021; Rosenqvist had a pretty big accident during the Detroit GP and had to sit out for two races.
However, third and twenty first put both cars and drivers in the IndyCar winners circle, so there was more money coming in.
On top of that, McLaren purchased 75% of the team from Schmidt and Peterson after the 2021 season. They also installed Zak Brown as the chairman.
While the person at the top changed, Arrow McLaren saw the same struggle that Andretti Global did. With the regulations and general style of driving, CGR and Team Penske dominated. O'Ward saw wins in 2022 at both Barber and Iowa, but this started a winless streak.
2023 was winless for the entire Arrow McLaren team, even after adding a full time third car into their lineup for the first time ever. They also dropped the SP after the season ended, now branded Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team.
Similarly to Andretti, 2024 was a change of fortune. O'Ward's first win of the year was a technicality at St. Pete, but they had larger issues.
Arrow McLaren had signed driver David Malukas at the end of 2023 to drive the #6 car, replacing Rosenqvist, who was going to Meyer Shank Racing. However, Malukas had a biking accident that required rest time pre-season.
Things snowballed from there. Brown, not one to rest on his laurels, pulled in Briton Callum Ilott to replace Malukas for both the opener at St. Pete and the not for points race at Thermal. Malukas was still in recovery at that point, so Brown called in Théo Pourchaire, the 2023 F2 champion, to race in his stead.
This distracted from any and all gains and losses going on with the other drivers. Alexander Rossi, driving the #7, had a steady start to his season, only placing below tenth once pre-500.
Like the year before it, the 500's win was yanked away from the person in the lead on the last few laps by Josef Newgarden. This time, it was yanked away from O'Ward on the last two laps.
On the team end, the #6 car was yanked away from Malukas due to a performance clause in his contract that stated he couldn't be away from his seat for more than six races a year. Ilott was given the car for the 500, then quickly replaced by driver Nolan Siegel with no rhyme or reason.
Stories like this became equal over 2024 to O'Ward's performance. Why was Siegel in the seat? Why was the well performing Rossi not getting a contract extension? Why was Pourchaire chosen to replace Rossi for the one race he had to miss and not Ilott?
What are papaya rules?
I digress.
Yet the back half of 2024 at least distracted people from the carousel going on within the organization. O'Ward returned officially to the top step at Mid-Ohio, the first race with the new hybrid engine system. Dialogue between IndyCar bigwigs, fans, and O'Ward made comments like 'Pato Who' explode on social media. Brown is definitely of the camp that no press is bad press, especially when it comes to O'Ward.
In a way, Arrow McLaren has something that none of the other teams have, and that's reflected in Fox's marketing of IndyCar. They have O'Ward.
O'Ward, without a title win, is slowly but steadily becoming bigger than the sport. It wasn't the second place finisher, Colton Herta, that got Fox's third big ad slot. Joining Newgarden and Palou was O'Ward because he is -
Well, he's any team's dream. Marketable and affable and cheerful, a huge fan of the camera. He's also very invested in racing and his fanbase as well. O'Ward's efforts to go out and engage in every community IndyCar visits has gifted Arrow McLaren more fans than one could count. Even outside of the series he draws a crowd; last year in Mexico City three stories of fans showed up to see O'Ward appear at a mall.
He stayed and signed for every single fan that wanted an autograph and a picture.
He did the same at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, where he served as the McLaren F1 team's reserve driver.
Though they didn't finish in the top three slots, Arrow McLaren finished in the top three in the press, easily.
Whether or not they can take this popularity and translate it to wins on the track remains to be seen. Early 2025 saw McLaren purchase the remaining 25% from Schmidt and Peterson, expand the leadership team and add more investors to their lineup.
But can Brown & co score Arrow McLaren their first 500 win this year? Their first title?
It would make for a great story.
Now we head into the drivers of the three cars for the 2025 season - #5 O'Ward, #6 Siegel, and #7 Lundgaard.