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The Thermal Club Grand Prix was Pato O'Ward's to lose as he had to contend with less grippy tires at the end of the race alongside lapped traffic. This reduced his lead significantly and aided Alex Palou in overtaking the Mexican before the end of the race. Unhappy with the state of affairs on how Chevrolet-powered teams remain selfish, unlike Honda-engined counterparts, O'Ward claimed the Chevy teams to be worthless in helping mount a fight for the win.
The Arrow McLaren driver led 51 of the 65 laps at the Thermal Club Grand Prix. Moreover, these 51 laps were led off the first 55 laps of the race.
This showcased the dominance of the Arrow McLaren at the hands of O'Ward. However, Chip Ganassi Racing's decision to put the red-walled tires on Alex Palou's car paid off.
The Spaniard trailed Pato O'Ward by nine seconds at the start of his last stint but quickly made in-roads due to his tire advantage and a bit of help from Honda-engined RLL driver Louis Foster, who helped Palou gain over three seconds in his battle for first with the pole-sitter.
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Upset by how Chevy customer teams will not engage in such actions, while Honda-powered teams will help their rivals pull off a victory from the minute of possibility, Pato O'Ward deemed Chevy affiliate teams worthless, as he said at the post-race press conference:
"I mean, I hate to whine about it, but it sucks to be the leader. All of our Chevy affiliate teams are worthless with helping when a Chevy leader is coming up on them. Honda seem to work as a team very, very well because Foster was doing everything in his power to keep me behind. Palou gets right behind him, and he just lets him cruise by... that just makes it a bit more of an annoyance rather than a joy."
On the other hand, the Arrow McLaren driver did not have all the tools at his disposal for the 65-lap race.
Pato O'Ward faced a severe hybrid issue for the majority of the Thermal Club Grand Prix
Pato O'Ward could not use the hybrid energy from the power unit as his car overheated. This handicapped him during the majority of the race, aiding Palou's charge at the latter end of the race.
O'Ward opened up about the problem after the race and revealed how the circuit layout did not favor him either, as he said:
"Yeah, for 50% of the race I couldn't use the thing. Just overheats, so... Obviously, here it's probably one of the most helpful areas where the hybrid is of good use because of those very stop-and-go corners and long straightaways."
Alex Palou leads the drivers' standings after winning his second race of the season. He has amassed 102 points, and Pato O'Ward trails him in second with 63 points.
