Scott McLaughlin breaks silence on his 'worst' IndyCar performance after Thermal Club debacle

Scott McLaughlin had a torrid weekend at the Thermal Club Grand Prix. The New Zealander began the race after starting at the rear of the field and was spun around even before the race had begun. He then retired from the race after suffering from hybrid issues and shared his candid thoughts after his performance at Thermal Club became his worst result in an IndyCar Grand Prix.

The Kiwi surged in the pecking order to become one of the title contenders last season. However, his title challenge soon became a long shot toward the latter end of the 2024 campaign as Alex Palou and Colton Herta marched ahead.

Despite the setback last year, he aimed to start the 2025 season on the front foot. Though he collected the wall at the season opener in St. Petersburg during the first practice session, Scott McLaughlin stormed to the pole a day later and announced his arrival on the grid.

With a lap 1 caution favoring early alternate tire runners, the win slipped away from McLaughlin's hand. However, he changed his focus to the Thermal Club Grand Prix weekend. His initial running showcased a decent pace, but qualifying was a nightmare as he was plum last in his qualifying group and started the race in 25th.

The 31-year-old was then involved in an altercation with Devlin DeFrancesco and had to pit on lap 20 due to a hybrid overheating issue. Due to constant overheating in the MGU, urging Team Penske to retire the car, having run the car for merely 53 laps.

Sharing his frustration from the weekend, Scott McLaughlin told Conor Daly about the incidents that took place on his worst IndyCar weekend and said:

"Yeah, probably one of the worst weekends in my IndyCar career. Just everything that went wrong, went wrong and nothing really went good. But you look at it, it's a building block, I actually felt like Sunday, we had a really really fast car; unfortunately we couldn't show it, I mean I started 25 seconds off the lead and by the end of the first stop, I was right on the tail of field and and sort of back in the game." (41:18 onwards)

"So, I'm proud of the way that we fought but then unfortunately we had some hybrid issues and basically the thing nearly burnt to the ground, so that's not ideal but we learn from it, we go forward, and I just wish we could race this week in Long Beach," he added.

Despite the early struggles, the Mooresville-based squad has shown their faith in the Kiwi by giving him a multi-year contract extension.

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Scott McLaughlin shares his thoughts on signing an extension with Team Penske

Scott McLaughlin at the INDYCAR Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg - Day 2 - Source: Getty

The 31-year-old announced his extension with Team Penske before the inaugural race weekend in St. Petersburg and was relieved of the pressure that one of his teammates currently faces. Revealing how the extension has helped him better focus on the racing side of things, McLaughlin said (via Speedcafe):

"Yeah, it’s something that takes another focus off what I’ve done. Focus and get going. Yeah, I was pumped to get it done."

Scott McLaughlin will hope for a better race at Long Beach and aim to bag in a solid result around the sub-2 mile track as he only managed a solitary top-10 result in the past four editions of the race.