"Excited to see Christian Lundgaard and Pato O'Ward battle it out" - McLaren veteran sets clear expectation for 2025 IndyCar season

Christian Lundgaard will be replacing Alexander Rossi for the 2025 IndyCar season at Arrow McLaren. The Danish driver raced with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in 2024 and made the move to race for the Papaya team in 2025. Lundgaard's race engineer and McLaren veteran Chris Lawrence came out and detailed his expectations for the upcoming IndyCar season.

The 2025 IndyCar season is on the horizon with the first race at St. Petersburg, Florida, being held on March 2. McLaren’s official website released public statements from Christian Lundgaard and his engineer Chris Lawrence as the duo looked forward to the Danish driver's debut season with the team.

Lundgaard's race engineer detailed his expectations from the 23-year-old and also detailed how the Danish driver will push the established Arrow McLaren driver Pato O'Ward during the 2025 season. Chris Lawrence said:

“I’m excited to let Christian show people what he can do. From watching him with a different team, I see some leadership in him and a really resilient character. I think he has some great qualities he can bring to us and I think we’ll work well together.”

“I’m excited to see Christian and Pato battle it out. I think it’ll help Pato raise his level and help the whole team perform,” he added

Christian Lundgaard, Pato O'Ward, and Nolan Siegel form one of the youngest lineups on the IndyCar grid at 23, 25, and 20 years old respectively. The Mexican driver is the oldest one on the team, both in age and in terms of the IndyCar experience.

Nolan Siegel signed with McLaren as a full-time driver midway through the 2024 season after multiple appearances as a part-timer for Dale Coyne Racing and Juncos Hollinger Racing in his rookie season.

Christian Lundgaard revealed how Tony Kanaan influenced his decision to join Arrow McLaren

NTT IndyCar Series official account on social media platform X uploaded a video featuring Christian Lundgaard as the Arrow McLaren driver detailed his plans for the upcoming season and reflected on his decision to join the team.

Lundgaard explained how Tony Kanaan’s presence on the team was crucial in making the decision to move to McLaren. He said,

“Tony was a big part of my decision as well. I've obviously seen him race, raced against him. I've leaned a lot on him. But getting to know everybody is obviously the challenge. And for all of us to get up to speed, working together is really the key factor. But at the end of the day, we're going to come out strong. I'm not here to spend the first couple of races getting up to speed. We want to be competitive from the get go.”

Tony Kanaan was recently announced as the new Team Principal at Arrow Mclaren. The Brazilian took up the role of the Deputy Team Principal after Gavin Ward left the team at the end of the 2024 Indycar season.

Christian Lundgaard has three years of full-time IndyCar experience under his belt as he joins Arrow McLaren. The Danish driver will be driving the No.7 Chevrolet-powered Arrow McLaren.