Uncharted waters: The Arrow McLaren dilemma

Credit to Wikimedia Comms: Arrow McLaren Team Logo

It was only meant to be one race. 

That was the assumption when in early February, David Malukas broke his wrist in a mountain biking accident just weeks before the beginning of the 2024 Indycar season. The resulting injury meant he was unable to drive for his new team Arrow McLaren in the opening round at St Petersburg and it left the team scrambling for a temporary stand-in whilst Malukas recovered. Wrist injuries usually take up to around three weeks to properly heal given the proper treatment so there was comfort from Arrow McLaren that their stand in would only need to be there for one race. That is at least how it started.  

St Petersburg went by but Malukas was not yet cleared to be back in the car for the next round. Arrow McLaren attended the Thermal Club $1 Million Dollar Challenge but there was still no sign of a comeback for Malukas heading to Long Beach. Luckily it was almost a month after Thermal but Malukas still needed time to heal. And when Long Beach came and went, the news on Malukas began to go silent. Suddenly, the alarm bells began to ring and questions were beginning to be raised about the extent of his injuries and whether he would step back into the car this season. Arguably a broken wrist is a minor injury but in the context of a modern Indycar lacking power steering, wrist and hand movement is extremely important and Malukas was suspected to be suffering from injuries far worse than anticipated. Barber came and went and still there was no news. Nothing to suggest Malukas would be in the car at all. No news from Arrow McLaren, no comments from Malukas, nothing at all. 

And then our worst fears were confirmed as less than twelve hours after the chequered flag fell in Barber, Arrow McLaren issued a public statement on the injured Malukas. His injury was not healing quickly enough to justify a place in the team and Arrow McLaren decided to release him from his contract. And just like that, one of Indycar’s most exciting young talents is now gone from the grid. This was supposed to be his career defining move and Arrow McLaren’s next prodigy. The potential he showed at Dale Coyne Racing was really impressive and his off track exuberance jelled perfectly with the vibrant Arrow McLaren. Joining this top organisation was destined to produce amazing moments for him but the lack of progress in his recovery has now denied him a shot in a competitive team. He now has to agonisingly sit the entire year out, waiting and hoping for an opportunity to arise in 2025. This now leaves Malukas searching for a new team and Arrow McLaren with a vacant car and the question now is what is next for both parties involved? Who would be in position to take the reins of the No. 6? And where will David Malukas land? 

The Theo Pourchaire and Callum Ilott dilemma

In place of the injured David Malukas, Arrow McLaren fielded two drivers. For the first two rounds at St Pete and Thermal, it was taken by Callum Ilott. A former Indycar driver for Juncos Hollinger Racing, he performed heroics with this underfunded and underpowered team and gained a reputation as one of the more underrated and talented drivers in Indycar. It was always going to be a tough task to step in for Arrow McLaren, given he did no form of Indycar testing in the off season, but he did a solid job to bring the car home just outside of the top ten at St Petersburg and narrowly missed out on a spot for the million dollar race at Thermal. A quick and reliable driver, it seems like a slam dunk to field Ilott for the full season. Not quite the case here. Callum Ilott  suffered a WEC calendar clash with Long Beach and for the following round at Long Beach, Arrow McLaren decided to field the reigning Formula 2 champion in Theo Pourchaire. A choice that no one expected given his Super Formula commitments but against all the odds much like Ilott, Pourchaire performed brilliantly in his Indycar debut climbing from the back of the grid up to P11 and earning the biggest mover trophy. He was so impressive that he was then asked to partake again for McLaren at Barber. It was overall much tougher for Arrow McLaren as a whole but Pourchaire ended up as the lead driver of the three in P22 after a clean and composed race. 

You now have two drivers who with little testing time have performed brilliantly and now gives Arrow McLaren a headache as to who they could potentially commit to for this season. Either driver would be a great pick for McLaren but realistically, you could not field either one of these drivers for a full season. If McLaren were to commit to Ilott or Pourchaire, they would need them to share the No. 6 seat for the whole season. Their commitments to WEC and Japanese Super Formula are their contractual priorities and running a full season in Indycar would cause too many calendar clashes. McLaren could maybe attempt a buyout with Theo Pourchaire and pry him over stateside as Team Impul are on the backfoot this season in Super Formula. In his two Indycar starts, he was beaming with so much positivity about the sport and clearly wants to continue driving, showing he would be more than dedicated to commit to a full season. But Ilott is also after redemption after his premature exit from the sport. He has heaps of potential to go all the way to the top and has the experience that Pourchaire lacks. The silly season narrative is pointing towards one of these two being in contention for the No. 6 next season but the question of who will get the seat this year is still up in the air or if it will be a shared seat. 

A more experienced driver?

As good as Pourchaire and Ilott are, they are still fairly new to the sport. The aforementioned seat sharing could cause problems in denying them both a proper period of adaptability and understanding the set up nuances of Arrow McLaren. If Arrow McLaren are wanting consistency from a single full time driver, then it might also be logical to look at a more experienced pair of hands to wield the No. 6 for the remainder of 2024. Luckily they would not be short of choice in this regard and chief amongst their candidates would be brand representative and former Indycar champion and Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan. An icon of the sport and a charismatic individual, he is one of the most memorable drivers to ever grace the Indycar scene and is a proven talent with 16 wins and 73 podiums to his name. Especially with the Indy 500 approaching fast, Kanaan would be perfect to run that event given his past success at the speedway. But the issue here is that a full season may be off the cards for Kanaan. He is officially retired from Indycar and sees no intent in going back out onto the track. Temptation may prevail but Kanaan has not run a road or street course event since 2019 meaning bringing himself back up to speed may be a tough task after a five year absence. 

So who else is there that could drive for Arrow McLaren? They could maybe look towards a driver like Ryan Hunter Reay, most recently having seat time last year with Ed Carpenter Racing after the departure of Conor Daly. He, much like Kanaan, is also a seasoned veteran of the sport also boasting a championship and a 500 win to his name. But he has the upper hand for that No. 6 seat given he is still semi-fresh from his Indycar season in 2023. He also has experience of the Chevrolet power unit which Arrow McLaren also use meaning he has the knowledge of all the various engine modes and engine maps. A more risky option could be with the return of James Hinchcliffe. He is also a retired driver but a new full time deal could tempt a seemingly unlikely return after his Indycar exit in 2021, by being an affiliated McLaren driver in the IMSA Sportscar Championship. He has also been a long term driver for Arrow McLaren in the past, when the team was formerly known as Arrow Schmit Peterson, meaning he would have personal and engineering connections with all the personnel he once knew so well. All of this might not work as a long term deal but for the interim whilst McLaren search for a new driver, a safe and experienced driver would be a logical option. 

A concentrated effort?

Despite all the previously praised performances, it has not exactly been an amazing season so far for Arrow McLaren. Yes, Pato O’Ward did win in the season opener in St Pete after Newgarden’s disqualification. But that was not a victory earned on the road and since then, it has been wildly scrappy from their two main drivers. Everyone struggled at Thermal and O’Ward and Rossi collided at Long Beach putting them both on the backfoot. And Barber had a crazy affair with O’Ward spinning Pietro Fittipaldi and then spinning out all on his own whilst Rossi lost a rear wheel after his pitstop. I mention this because viewers underestimate the impact of running three cars in one single team. The transition to a three car outfit since 2023 has not been a smooth ride for Arrow McLaren and they have been struggling to manage more than they can handle. Previously Arrow McLaren was only a two car outfit with Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist, and the success they endured was much better as a concentrated outfit. O’Ward was regularly in the hunt for victories all year long in the No. 5 and despite being a tricky couple of years, Rosenqvist was also really strong in the No. 7 during the end of his tenure.    

Could Arrow McLaren reset their squad back to years prior? With the No. 6 in peril this year, a decision could be made to reduce their operation for this year to bring McLaren back on track. The effect is shown clearly with the recent downsizing of Team Penske and Andretti Global and maybe Arrow McLaren could backtrack to before 2023 and bring that desired stability. But then you have the big sponsors for the No. 6, including NTT Data and Onsemi, that would lose out on their agreed exposure throughout the year. You have Arrow running advertisements full time on the No. 5 of Pato O’Ward and Velo on the No. 7 of Alexander Rossi. For the team to essentially terminate NTT Data and Onsemi would violate sponsorship agreements for their agreed exposure on race weekends and would also consequently reduce revenue drastically for McLaren. The upshot though is that team personnel on the No. 6 would now be shifted towards working on the No. 5 and No. 7 cars therefore increasing the number of minds and boosting their engineering might. They do not have the same budget and facilities as Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske so every individual and all resources must be cost effective to gain the greatest advantage. It is a decision riding on their confidence of running three cars and whether they can pick up more performance as the year goes on.  

And what about David Malukas?

This will be an incredibly tough period for Malukas to go through. To finally get your chance at a top ride in Indycar is so exciting for any young driver. But to then lose it in an instance is an extremely demoralising situation to find yourself in. Was it self-inflicted? To an extent, yes. Driver contracts always have restrictions in place on the activities they can participate in, which forbids any form of extreme sport that could increase the potential risk of injury. Whether that was in place in Malukas’ contract is unknown and most likely will remain hidden from the public eye, but ultimately McLaren could not justify paying his race salary when he has no guaranteed return date. People call this decision harsh, especially given Arrow McLaren’s history with driver contracts, but the bottom line is they would be throwing away cash to a driver not even racing in their car. But seeing McLaren have amicably cut all ties with Malukas completely shows a degree of dissatisfaction, something that may have more depth than just a broken wrist. He was not given an option to drive in 2025, was not offered a development driver role nor did he remain a part of the McLaren brand. He has been released completely and begs the question what else has happened behind the scenes for McLaren to no longer trust Malukas in their car. 

Whatever has happened will forever be kept from the public and something which we can only speculate about without any real evidence. But does this mean it is the end of the road for Malukas? Absolutely not. Malukas is now more than determined to make a comeback and recover to 100% and he will most definitely find a way back into Indycar for 2025. He has the speed, the mentality and the financial backing from HMD to make him a desirable commodity. But where would be a likely landing spot for him? A return back to Dale Coyne Racing could be extremely likely when he performed so well there previously. The past relationship between HMD and Dale Coyne was fruitful and would form an unlikely but fond reunion, giving Malukas a comfortable environment to ease himself back into Indycar and Dale Coyne a healthy amount of funding to continue racing. Rahal Letterman Lanigan and AJ Foyt Racing could also be on the cards but the only chance for Malukas would be a possible expansion to an extra car. Given the funding that he possesses, this would definitely be a strong possibility but the question is whether the teams could manage an expanded operation. Another move could be to join Prema Racing who are making their Indycar debut for the first time in 2025. This successful junior team has experience across all of motorsport and by having an experienced, young and motivated driver in Malukas, he could bring his Indycar racing expertise to help develop Prema from the ground up. His options are plentiful going forwards and there is great confidence that he will be back in Indycar in some capacity. It will still be a painful pill to swallow by having his progress up the grid completely reset, but this will only fuel his fire to come back stronger. This will be but a bump in the road for the young Malukas and his career is far from over. 

Concluding thoughts

The month of May is now upon us and as of writing, Theo Pourchaire is scheduled to participate in the Indy GP and Callum Ilott is seemingly scheduled to compete in this year's Indy 500. But what happens after that is completely unknown. For next year, the possibilities are endless and I think McLaren could be very bold with their driver choice for 2025. That can be an in depth discussion for another day but predicting 2024, I believe Pourchaire and Ilott will share the seat of the No. 6. The intention seems to be to analyse these two for 2025 and it gives Arrow McLaren a great opportunity to give both drivers ample testing time and get them acclimated to a new environment for a potential move. If I had to choose one of these two to take the seat, I believe Callum Ilott has the best shot. Callum Ilott I think would relish a return to Indycar after his premature exit, but his position in JOTA and the WEC is an experience he is loving and would take some discussions from McLaren to pull him away from his new home. Someone like Pourchaire would take a lot to tempt a 2025 campaign when he is firmly setting his sights on Formula 1. His whole reasoning to join Super Formula is to gather that vital Formula 1 experience which Super Formula resembles so much. He is also still contracted as a Kick Sauber reserve driver and with the Audi takeover rapidly approaching and a seat still up for grabs, I think Pourchaire will be firmly planting his foot in the door for a future Formula 1 drive. To sign to Indycar is to say goodbye to Formula 1 which is something I do not think he is ready to give up yet.   

But this situation as a whole is still so unfortunate. This should have been a match made in heaven for Malukas and McLaren which makes it more unfortunate that this driver and team combination never happened. It will be consigned to history as one of Indycar’s biggest what if scenarios. One that was destined to bring so much but one that will now never see the light of day. A missed opportunity for sure. It just goes to show how quickly a driver's fate can be changed in this sport but also the cruel consequences that a minor injury can create. Even the smallest of injuries can act as a career ending scenario for any driver and not just through relegating them to the side lines permanently. You can be injured and fully recover but you can also easily be replaced and fall out of the driver market completely. David Malukas I am confident will return but now more than ever he needs to plant his feet back into the doors of Indycar teams to remain a key player in this forthcoming silly season. And McLaren themselves are now in need to find the missing piece to their three car puzzle and need a driver that can bring the same level of excitement that Malukas was supposed to be. Both parties are on the road to recovery and you can be safely assured that in no time at all, they will both be back fighting.

Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arrow_mclaren_sp_logo_indy.jpg