3 key areas where McLaren and Pato O'Ward need to work for a sustained title challenge in 2025

Pato O'Ward had yet another disappointing IndyCar season with Arrow McLaren in 2024. Inconsistency plagued their championship pursuit, and the team appeared to be a mirror image of its F1 counterpart's mediocre pre-2023 self.

O'Ward is entering his sixth season with the team in 2025 and yet finds them dealing with various issues on most race weekends. Even in the lead-up to the 108th Indy 500 last year, the Mexican driver admitted to feeling "helpless" with an "annoying issue" that left Arrow McLaren clueless. However, he still managed to take his No. 5 Chevy to a second-place finish, getting heartbreakingly close to a victory.

Though he achieved a career-best three victories in 2024, the lows were as big. Let's look at the top three variables that Pato O'Ward and Arrow McLaren need to address for the championship in 2025.

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Tony Kanaan needs to minimize the driver and employee turnover

The 107TH Running of the Indianapolis 500 - Practice and Qualifying - Source: Getty

With Arrow McLaren's Team Principal Gavin Ward resigning after the 2024 season, Tony Kanaan stepped up to lead the team. The Brazilian has won both of IndyCar's biggest prizes as a driver - the championship in 2004 and the Indy 500 in 2013.

In 2024, Arrow McLaren witnessed extreme volatility in the No. 6 car. The team terminated an injured David Malukas' contract to replace him with Callum Ilott and Theo Pourchaire in a rotating capacity, with the latter competing in more races. Midway through the season, both of them were axed to make way for rookie Nolan Siegel.

The team also lost several veteran mechanics and engineers to its competitors, mainly PREMA Racing. Kanaan, who was known for his consistency as a driver, needs to streamline the personnel-handling processes within the team and emulate what Andrea Stella has done for McLaren in F1.

With the youngest driver trio on the grid in Pato O'Ward, Nolan Siegel, and Christian Lundgaard, the upside is unbounded.

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Pato O'Ward needs to make peace with the new hybrid system

AUTO: AUG 16 NTT IndyCar Series Bommarito Automotive Group 500 - Source: Getty

Pato O'Ward was IndyCar's first race winner after the hybrid power units were introduced at Mid-Ohio, race 10 of the 2024 calendar. He qualified in second position, led 23 laps, and held off Alex Palou to win by just over half a second.

However, he wasn't happy with the hybrid system. According to him, it reduced the possibility of closer battles because drivers could simply use the push-to-pass button to gain extra speed and correct any mistakes they might've made on a given lap.

"I think the racing has taken a big step down just looking in Mid-Ohio, Toronto. People don't need to use their push to pass anymore to defend sometimes. That's ultimately just opened doors to less fights on track. At least that's what I feel," he said via Motorsport.

Arrow McLaren also had issues with getting the tires in the right window. At Portland, the team left with a mixed bag. In qualifying, the alternate tires failed O'Ward, who qualified in 22nd place. However, in the race, the alternates worked, while the primary tires troubled the team.

O'Ward claimed that the new hybrid system could've been to blame for the unpredictable tire management.

"Maybe we’ve had some losses with the changes in the evolution of the tires with the new hybrid and all that stuff," he said via RACER.

With 2025 being the first full season to feature the hybrid systems, O'Ward and Arrow McLaren need to be proactive in mitigating the new problems.

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Settle for lesser points than risk everything for victory

Pato O'Ward - F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2024 - Source: Getty

At the top level of motorsport, the smarter team is often that which gives up fanatic victory pursuit to ensure consistent progress in the championship. This hasn't been the case for Arrow McLaren.

In IndyCar's content days ahead of the 2025 season, Pato O'Ward highlighted how the team was "inconsistent" in 2024 and needed to find a middle ground rather than having huge ebbs and flows.

"I would say, performance-wise, good days were great, bad days were horrible... We've had too many of those instances where we're just throwing points away really. Cleaning that up and making our bad days better will have a significant impact in how we're looking at the end of the season," he said.

The 25-year-old made a very similar assessment in 2024 when he said via RACER:

"We keep raising our bar, but sometimes we need to bring it back down to scoring points instead of always going big for wins."

Pato O'Ward's racing career seems to be on the cusp of something big. All that Arrow McLaren needs is to smartly align in a manner that their F1 counterpart did to achieve the 2024 F1 constructors' championship.