Pato O'Ward drops hilarious comment on IndyCar rival’s “nerves are high” IG post

Pato O'Ward had a strong second-place finish at the 2025 Thermal Club Grand Prix. While he has received applause for his on-track exploits, he recently came up with a cheeky remark around Scott McLaughlin and Devlin DeFrancesco's altercation.

DeFrancesco and McLaughlin collided at Turn 15 on the formation lap of the 65-lap race, and were involved in a heated row afterwards as well. In line with this, the latter recently posted an update on Instagram and added:

"Definitely not how we wanted today to go. We will keep pushing and we will be back stronger in Long Beach. Super happy with the pace of the 30 @RLLracing today in race especially on reds. I also wanted to add, nerves are high after the race I spoke to @smclaughlin93 afterwards and cleared the air. I have nothing but respect for him! Looking forward to putting this behind us and moving forward to Long Beach," DeFrancesco wrote.

Following this, Pato O'Ward saw the funny side of things, got into the comments section, and came up with a hilarious response.

"boi almost got in a fist fight"

Pato O'Ward's comment on Instagram

McLaughlin retired from the Thermal race on lap 53 whereas DeFrancesco ended his outing in 20th position.

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Pato O'Ward felt Arrow McLaren's 'gamble' didn't work out at Thermal

While Pato O'Ward came up with a hilarious response in relation to DeFrancesco's Instagram post, he sounded a bit dejected yesterday (March 23) following his P2 finish.

In his post-race interview, he had the following to add:

"Yeah, we took a gamble, and it didn't work out for us. We had used new reds in the start because we didn't know what the deg was going to be like. The blacks, you know, kind of took a turn and dipped toward the end of the race and that was it, we didn't really stand a fighting chance but thanks to all the fans for hanging in," O'Ward said.

After two rounds in the ongoing 2025 IndyCar season, Pato O'Ward finds himself in second place in the drivers' championship. He has so far managed 63 points but is quite a way behind Alex Palou. The latter is currently sitting at the top of the standings with 102 points to his name.

However, the ongoing season has a long way to go. There are still 15 races remaining on the calendar and there is ample time for O'Ward to steadily eat into Palou's lead. Last year, the Arrow McLaren driver ended his campaign in fifth place in the standings behind Team Penske's Will Power (two-time world champion). Palou, on his end, secured the drivers' world championship for the third time in his career.