Conor Daly shares his feelings about Pato O'Ward's "wild" St. Pete gamble

Pato O'Ward had a miserable start to the first race weekend of the 2025 IndyCar season at the Grand Prix of St Petersburg. However, the Arrow McLaren driver was able to make a comeback during the race as Conor Daly came out and commented on the Mexican’s gamble at the IndyCar race in Florida.

O'Ward had issues with the alternate tires during the qualifying session and was not able to get them into the operating window. As a result, the 25-year-old was eliminated in the first qualifying session and started the race in P23. Through strategy and sheer pace, O’Ward was able to make up ground and finished the race in P11, just outside the Top 10.

Conor Daly was featured in the latest episode of the Speed Street podcast and conversed with Chase Holden about the 2025 Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg. Daly commented on Pato O'Ward’s comeback during the race, saying:

“But yeah, what Pato did I think was still the most surprising thing. I said I did a faux two stop. He did a faux three stop and essentially stopped four times, which is wild. But, but it worked. He used the clear track when he got it. He basically just pushed hard all race long and never basically never saved fuel. So really, really strong.” (23:00 onwards)

Pato O'Ward started the race at the back of the grid and was instantly faced with a setback after the first lap. The Mexican started the race on the preferred primary tires but collected debris from Will Power and Nolan Siegel’s crash, which caused a puncture. O’Ward had to get rid of the new set of tires.

The 25-year-old made three more pitstops after the forced pitstop under caution at the start (including a stint on the unfavorable alternate tires), and yet was able to make up 12 positions during the race.

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“I think 11 is the best that we could have done”: Pato O'Ward shared feeling after St. Pete race

Pato O'Ward stood before the media after the race and answered questions from the reporters. Motorsport reporter Bob Pockrass uploaded a video on social media platform X of the IndyCar driver sharing his feelings about the race after finishing P11. O’Ward detailed the struggles with the tires but was content with the result, as he said (0:18 onwards):

“Today, in the race, we didn't get collected in the chaos, but it collected us, I would say, and we got a puncture. So that wasn't ideal because it was one of our prime sets, and we had to change the strategy. But I think 11 is the best that we could have done today with what we got thrown at us.”

O'Ward's teammate Nolan Siegel crashed out of the race on Lap one, and Christian Lundgaard came in P8 after being in contention for the win and leading 23 laps.