Pato O'Ward gives honest reaction to Defrancesco and McLaughlin squaring off at IndyCar's Thermal race

Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward commented on Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's Devlin DeFrancesco's Instagram post as the Canadian driver shared pictures from the Thermal Club IndyCar race and detailed the heated argument with Scott McLaughlin after the race. The Mexican driver shared his honest reaction on the fight between the Team Penske and RLL driver.

DeFrancesco has cleared the air about the crash and the heated argument with Scott McLaughlin, which ensued after the race ended. In the caption to his Instagram post, he wrote:

“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.”

The No. 5 Arrow McLaren driver Pato O'Ward commented on the post as he shared his honest reaction to the brawl between the two drivers. His comment read:

“boi almost got in a fist fight😂”

Image credits: Instagram/@devlindefran

Scott McLaughlin started the race in P25 after a disappointing qualifying session and Devlin DeFrancesco started behind in P26. The two drivers came together on the warmup lap and collided while going into Turn 15.

The Canadian driver dive-bombed the Team Penske driver, who didn't expect a car on his inside and turned into the RLL. Scott McLaughlin spun around and went off the track and Devlin DeFrancesco was penalized with a drive-through penalty.

IndyCar’s official social media accounts posted a video of the brawl between Scott McLaughlin and Devlin DeFrancesco as the duo exchanged a few harsh words accompanied by aggression.

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Pato O'Ward detailed how the tire strategy gamble cost him the Thermal Club win

Pato O'Ward started the race in pole position and opted to use his only set of new Alternate tires for the first stint. Alex Palou, on the other hand, saved the new alternate tires for a later stint in the race, and that is what made all the difference.

O'Ward carved out a 10-second lead to Palou at the end of the first stint and the gaps remained somewhat constant until Lap 40. However, as soon as the Spaniard put on the new soft compound tires, the #10 CGR came alive as Alex Palou overtook Christian Lundgaard in P2 with 15 laps to go, and then passed the race leader O’Ward in the next five laps.

Pato O'Ward explained how the tire strategy gamble didn't pay off as he said (via IndyCar):

“We took a gamble; it didn’t work out for us. We had used our new reds (alternate tires) at the start because we didn’t really quite know what the deg (tire degradation) was going to be like. The blacks (primary tires) really kind of took a turn for the negative at the end of the race, and that was it. We didn’t stand a fighting chance.”

Pato O'Ward came out before the Thermal Club weekend and highlighted how the strategy would decide the result of the race, and it did.