Growing Pains Part of The Process for Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team

After signing Alexander Rossi in the offseason, Arrow McLaren seemed destined to join the ranks of the "Big Three" teams of Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing, and Andretti Autosport. Those are the only organizations to win the championship since reunification in 2008, with Andretti's lone title coming more than a decade ago with Ryan Hunter-Reay. With a three-driver lineup of Pato O'Ward, Felix Rosenqvist, and Rossi, this team looked the part to be title contenders.

The team added another strong piece during the Month of May when Tony Kanaan climbed into a fourth Chevrolet. Through seven races this season, the organization is still searching for their first race win. Meanwhile, the aforementioned teams have all been to victory lane with five different drivers.

It began in the season-opening event at St Petersburg, when O'Ward was leading in the closing laps when a rare engine issue cost him the lead. That runner-up finish would become a theme for O'Ward, who has three of them so far this year. His biggest issue continues to be a lack of patience. That was the cause of his crash towards the end of the Indy 500 and again today in Detroit. Those are the mistakes that will prevent him from winning the Astor Cup Trophy.

Rossi has had a decent start at his new home, finishing 4th in the season opener. After being snake bitten at Texas and Long Beach, he has rebounded nicely with finishes of 8th at Birmingham, a podium on the IMS road course, and a top-five finish in the Indy 500. Another top-five today in Detroit would seemingly have him in a great state of mind. The way it happened though, made for an akward post-race interview.

In the closing laps of today's race, Rossi and Rosenqvist were battling for a spot on the podium. The two made contact multiple times, with Rosenqvist eventually taking the spot. "I was on the inside, and he squeezed me quite a lot on the first hit," Rosenqvist said. "I had to run into him or I was going to clip the left side wall. On the exit, you’re racing to the next corner. I think I was a fair bit ahead. He played it hard on entry, and I played it hard on exit. So, I think it was fair."

Rossi did not completely agree with that assessment. "We’ll discuss it internally," he stated. "It was a good day overall. I think the pace was good. The team did an amazing job in pit lane. The strategy was right. I’m happy with everything, so we’ll take another top five and move on to Road America."

The elephant in the room is the future for Rosenqvist, who is a free agent after this season. Many reports have suggested that he will lose his ride to Alex Palou, but Felix says he is not focused on that right now.

"I race the same every race. I don’t think it has anything to do with the future. I’m not worried about my future. I’m racing as hard as I can every race. I mean, it’s always tough out there in IndyCar. I shouldn’t be ashamed of being elbows out. I think it was all fair play. In the car it’s tough, and I don’t want to race teammates too much. It’s never fun, but that’s the way it is in IndyCar. If you’re raced hard, you have to race hard back."

Teammates coming together on the track is nothing new, in IndyCar or any form of motorsport. While there may not be an obvious alpha dog on this team, the same can be said for the other "Big Three" organizations. Penske and Ganassi both have multi-champions and multiple Indy 500 winners. Andretti might not have either of those, but Colton Herta, Romain Grosjean, and Kyle Kirkwood are all performing at nearly the same level this season.

No matter which driver delivers the team's first win of the season, there are clearly no team orders at McLaren. Each driver has room for improvement, but that can often be achieved with friendly competition within the team. All three drivers are certainly capable of winning a race, but as long their aggression doesn't get out of hand, this season could still end with a championship.