Tony Kanaan introduced Nolan Siegel to sports psychology to deal with immense "outside negativity”

IndyCar driver Nolan Siegel was introduced to sports psychology by Arrow McLaren team principal Tony Kanaan with the 2025 season on the horizon. As the 20-year-old looked back on his debut year in the American open-wheel racing series, he detailed the outside negativity faced in an interview with The Race.

Nolan Siegel made his IndyCar debut for DCR at the Thermal Club in 2024 but failed to qualify. He also participated in the Indy 500 with Dale Coyne Racing and again failed to qualify for the race. The American revealed how people sympathized with him as he had no prior experience in the series.

However, as soon as he signed with Arrow McLaren later last year, everyone's expectations changed and the criticism started flooding in. Speaking about the same, Nolan Siegel said,

“There's been a tremendous amount of outside negativity, like, disappointingly so. I didn't qualify for the [Indianapolis] 500 and everyone is like, 'Oh, I feel so sorry for him, the little rookie that had no experience, he did so well'. And then, signed for McLaren, and a week later, finished 12th in my first race at Laguna and everyone's going, 'Why is he here? He shouldn't be here'. So it's an interesting dynamic, for sure…”

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Tony Kanaan, the newly appointed Team Principal at Arrow McLaren also spoke with The Race and revealed how he helped the young American deal with the outside negativity and added he introduced Siegel to sports psychology.

“I think he was probably in one of the most stressful times of his career, not just like driving for McLaren, people saying, 'You don't deserve to be there, what did you do, why you're there?' Blah, blah, blah. He managed pretty well on the perception,” Tony Kanaan said.

“I introduced him on the sports psychology side, it's because, by default, you're thinking, 'Well, it was his first year, he was under a lot of heat, so the second year is going to be piece of cake',” added Kanaan.

Nolan Siegel began his professional single-seater career racing in the US F4 and US F2000 National Championships before moving up the ranks to the Indy NXT series. Before the American knew it, he made his IndyCar debut at the age of 19.

In the 2025 season, Nolan Siegel will partner with Pato O'Ward and Christian Lundgaard at Arrow McLaren, making the one of the youngest lineups on the grid. Tony Kanaan was recently appointed as the Team Principal at Arrow McLaren after the Indy 500 winner took over the role of Deputy Team Principal following Gavin Ward’s departure.

“Doesn't have the time to just hide away” - Will Buxton reveals the expectations from Nolan Siegel’s 2025 IndyCar campaign

IndyCar uploaded a reel on their Instagram account on February 16, where Will Buxton commented on the expectations from Arrow McLaren and its driver in the upcoming IndyCar season. The F1TV host shared his thoughts on the recent progress made by the Papaya team in the championship as he spoke about the young lineup fielded by McLaren.

Speaking about Nolan Siegel, Buxton said,

“Nolan Siegel is also a really interesting story. A young kid who made a step up to IndyCar halfway through last season, he doesn't have the time to just hide away and learn in the shadows because the lens is going to be directed straight at him in a team with big ambitions. And that means he has to prove his value to the team every single weekend.”

Will Buxton joined the IndyCar on FOX crew earlier this year and was confirmed as the play-by-play commentator for the upcoming IndyCar season. FOX took over the exclusive broadcasting rights for IndyCar from NBC starting with the 2025 season.