“Respect the race track” key to McLaren’s Indy 500 redemption

Arrow McLaren team principal Tony Kanaan said his team is “not doing anything different” in its approach to this year’s 109th running of the Indianapolis 500, despite its driver Pato O’Ward losing out to Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden in the closing stages of the 2024 race.

Kanaan, who won the Indy 500 in 2013, will lead McLaren’s four-car line-up at this year’s race, with O’Ward lining up alongside Nolan Siegel, Christian Lundgaard, and Kyle Larson. The team is chasing an ultimate victory at the Brickyard, and Kanaan says he speaks from experience when it comes to the team’s approach to winning the historic race.

“I think the way I took it throughout my career was, every time that I came to this race, I had to put myself in a position to win,” Kanaan said. “And first is by participating, it’s number one. And then working towards your goal.

“I can’t pinpoint one thing why we lost the race with two corners to go. I can only look ahead and say, ‘alright, let’s look at what we think we need to improve, how we can play the race strategy-wise,’ and we’ll see if we’re there at the end.

“You have to be careful how you approach it, and you [can’t] let it get into your head. It can make you immortal, a forever-winner. But it can also destroy you.

“So, we’re approaching with the same approach: we respect the race track, we have fast race cars, and we’re going to leave it all out there.”

When asked what he’ll be doing on his side to help O’Ward, Kanaan added that he would “do everything I can.”

“I told Pato, ‘if I could drive the car’, but I think I’m worse than him, so he’s the best guy on the wheel,” he said.

“And then within the whole team and Pato, [we have] the tools and the mindset, and everything to win a race, which is kind of a big responsibility on my end. As a race car driver, I had my crew only to worry about.

“We have four cars in the race, four chances. I’m not putting all my coins on Pato, but he was the one that has the good record here.”

But Kanaan is hesitant to think too much about what an Indy 500 win would mean to him and the team, adding that he will try not to think about it.

“I think over the years, I’ve learned that this kind of expectation can really destroy you,” Kanaan said. “When you, like, think about how you’re going to celebrate, and that anticipation? I’ve never liked that, because I think it needs to be natural.

“But it would mean a lot to the team, right? McLaren has a history. We are a race team, our team this year has never stopped racing. Look how much we’re dominating in Formula 1.

“Now, this team grew, so it was a race team that became this empire.”

Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

Ahead of the Indy 500, Arrow McLaren has two drivers in the top five of IndyCar’s standings, with Lundgaard third and O’Ward in second.

While facing the gulf to Alex Palou up front, Kanaan is realistic about his team’s goals as he looks ahead to the rest of the 2025 IndyCar season.

“We’ve got to keep it the same,” he said. “Nothing has to change.”

“That is the ups-and-downs, or a bad result, or a good result, could not change the focus and the goal.

“I think we have a hard task on Palou, that has been extremely strong. I mean, his worst finish has been second. So, we’ve got to capitalise on it and keep it as close as we can.

“We can’t second-guess each other. We have a plan. If it’s going to be enough or not, I will be able to answer you in a few months when the season is over. But this is by no means an excuse. I got in this year, I’m committed, I’m a racer, I’ve been a race car driver my entire career.

“People say, ‘do you love winning races?’ I say, ‘actually it’s the opposite. I hate losing more than I love winning’.

Kyle Larson, Arrow McLaren, Tony Kanaan, Arrow McLaren

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

“We’re working pretty hard, but racing is not fair, it’s never been fair. Life’s not fair.

“Results-wise, you say ‘well are we happy?’ Of course, no. We’re never going to be happy if we don’t win everything. But I think it’s been very positive.

“We had a few things over the last year that we wanted to tackle, which was the consistency, but also having zero mechanical failures, which – knock on wood – so far we’ve been able to accomplish, and then just keep building like that.

“I think we’re on the right path, and racing doesn’t forgive you, you’re only as good as your last race.”