Arrow McLaren leave Indy disappointed again

Arrow McLaren looked strong, led laps, showed potential, but came up short in the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500.

As usual, Pato O’Ward excelled around the legendary oval, but while he followed roughly the same strategy as eventual winner Felix Rosenqvist, he made his final pitstop two laps earlier, forcing him to lower his lap speeds more dramatically. Although the late cautions for Caio Collet’s accident and Mick Schumacher’s slight wall-brush eased the No. 5 McLaren’s mileage issues somewhat, he couldn’t position his car to challenge the leaders Rosenqvist and David Malukas in the final run to the flag. While O’Ward got around Marcus Armstrong in the second Meyer Shank car, he was demoted to fourth by the charging Scott McLaughlin’s Team Penske machine,

“We were in the mix again, but we didn’t have what we needed to go get it done,” said O’Ward who was running a backup car after his innocent involvement in Alexander Rossi’s shunt last Monday. “There is nothing left for us here other than winning.

“We were definitely in position but I was a sitting duck. We had excessive amounts of brake drag, in traffic and by ourselves. It’s impossible to get any runs on people. We maybe could have put some wing in but we know how the wing ends up. You’ve got to have a chance to be able to overtake. I felt like a sitting duck all day. I’m glad it’s over with.”

Christian Lundgaard, who won the Indy Grand Prix two weeks ago, was even more dispirited, commenting: “It was a very long day and certainly not the result we were working towards. We felt like we were making good progress throughout the month, but when it came down to it, we just didn't move the needle and a strategy gamble didn't pay off. It’s incredibly frustrating for the whole team.”

Nolan Siegel climbed from 20th to claim 11th place, while the Indy-only entry of Ryan Hunter-Reay spun out early, causing the first of eight cautions.