"These IndyCar races are so long man" - Pato O'Ward shares his real feelings after St. Pete comeback

IndyCar driver Pato O'Ward had a day to forget at the 2025 Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg qualifying. The Mexican driver qualified P23 but managed to move up and finish the race in P11. The Arrow McLaren driver came out and spoke about his comeback at St. Pete.

O'Ward failed to make the alternate tires work during the first qualifying session and was eliminated from Group 1. Finishing second last in the group, O’Ward started the race in P23. The No. 5 driver started the race on the harder primary set, which was punctured as O’Ward ran over debris from Will Power and Nolan Siegel's Lap 1 crash.

Pato O’Ward lost a set of the hard tires there. Yet, despite all the setbacks, including once being on the verge of getting lapped by McLaughlin, the Mexican driver kept his head down and finished the race in P11, just outside the Top 10.

Motorsport reporter Bob Pockrass caught up with the Arrow McLaren driver after the race and uploaded a video of O’Ward describing his comeback on the social media platform X. O'Ward said:

“Today, in the race, we didn't get collected in the chaos, but it collected us, I would say, and we got a puncture. So that wasn't ideal because it was one of our prime sets, and we had to change the strategy. But I think 11 is the best that we could have done today with what we got thrown at us.”

Bob Pockrass then questioned O’Ward about the puncture, losing a set of hard tires, and his thought process after the setback. The Mexican replied:

“I mean, these IndyCar races are so long, man. There are a hundred laps. The problem was, it was a prime set, and no one wanted to run the alternates... But since it was a prime and it was a new prime, I was like, damn, that sucks.”

Pato O'Ward's teammate Nolan Siegel retired from the race on Lap 1, whereas Christian Lundgaard finished the race in P8 and even led 23 laps during the middle stint.

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Pato O'Ward detailed the struggles with tires following a shocking qualifying exit at St. Pete

Many drivers failed to make the alternate tires work during the St. Petersburg Grand Prix weekend, including Will Power and Pato O'Ward. Not a single driver preferred the alternate sets during the race, as the racers got rid of the green sidewall tire as soon as they could.

The Mexican driver spoke about the inability to get the alternate tires to work during the qualifying session, as he said (via FOX stream):

“I just couldn't the green tires switched on. We had two opportunities and it was... I don't have an explanation for you really. It was just a really tough lap to get together and obviously, it's not ideal for tomorrow. But we'll have our work cut out for us. We'll see if we can make our way and get some solid points tomorrow.”

The drivers, who started the race on alternate tires, got rid of them as soon as the caution came out. However, the ones who ran them during the middle stint got rid of the tires in about 10 laps and ran the remainder of the race on primary tires.