It’s an unimaginable time to be a member of the McLaren Racing household.
Sure, there may be success on the Components 1 aspect of issues, and an upcoming return to the World Endurance Championship, however there may be additionally an amazing quantity of success on the IndyCar circuit. Pato O’Ward has already secured a second-place end within the championship standings, and with Christian Lundgaard having a shot at a third-place end within the season finale, the IndyCar workforce might have two drivers end within the high three.
Add in what younger Nolan Siegel did this season, and you’ve got an amazing current, and future at Arrow McLaren.
On the head of the operation is former Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan, who moved into the Crew Principal position this season after becoming a member of Arrow McLaren as an advisor after his remaining Indianapolis 500 in 2023. Kanaan moved right into a Deputy Crew Principal position following the tip of the 2024 marketing campaign, taking up because the Crew Principal earlier than this season started.
Forward of the Music Metropolis Grand Prix in Nashville, the ultimate race of the 2025 IndyCar season, Kanaan spoke with SB Nation concerning the workforce’s drivers, their season to this point, what a lap at Indianapolis is like, the workforce’s future, and a lot extra.
It was an interesting dialogue.
Arrow McLaren’s 4 drivers
As our dialog started, I needed to ask Kanaan about Arrow McLaren’s drivers, all three of whom I used to be fortunate sufficient to talk with forward of the Indianapolis 500.
Nevertheless, I additionally needed to ask a couple of fourth driver, who was with the workforce throughout that race. None aside from Kyle Larson, who was taking his second run on the “Double” this season with Arrow McLaren, making an attempt to finish each the IndyCar Indianapolis 500 early within the day on the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend, earlier than heading off to Charlotte later within the afternoon for NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600.
I requested Kanaan about what impressed him probably the most about Larson’s makes an attempt on the Double.
”I imply the flexibility to modify from one automobile to the opposite, which is extraordinarily tough.
”I’ve performed it earlier than.
“The child is the true deal, extraordinarily gifted, very robust to return to do a one-off with so many drivers right here which can be [full-time drivers],” started Kanaan.
“I’ve numerous expertise [with Larson] so I used to be all the time impressed with Kyle. We gained the Daytona 24 hours, collectively. So I knew who we had been getting, so it wasn’t information to me, however I feel lots of people had been impressed.”
We then talked concerning the workforce’s three full-time drivers, starting with younger Nolan Siegel, who will wrap his first full season in IndyCar this weekend in Nashville.
“You already know, numerous ups and downs,” started Kanaan.
“Are we gonna say ‘Did you count on that?’ We didn’t know what to anticipate. There’s numerous stress on the child. We knew that was going to be a giant problem due to the stress, the identify. You already know, the state of affairs on that automobile from earlier years,” mentioned the Arrow McLaren boss.
“So I’d name it a rookie season with numerous ups and downs and difficulties,” continued Kanaan. “Clearly, he’s staying. We’re going to work within the offseason to make it higher. Subsequent yr, clearly, goes to be a vital yr for him.
“So far as outcomes, I imply this yr I instructed him we’re simply gonna go and let’s see. If it’s good it’s good and if it’s not so good, we’ll make it higher. So making progress, I feel numerous the issues that occurred this yr was out of his management, so hopefully we’ll we’ll be capable to put all of it collectively.”
Siegel will begin seventh on Sunday.
We then turned to Christian Lundgaard, who joined Arrow McLaren this season after a number of seasons at RLL. Lundgaard enters the ultimate weekend of the season sitting fourth within the IndyCar standings, with an opportunity to leap as much as third by the checkered flag on Sunday. He’ll begin third in Nashville, two spots forward of Scott Dixon, whom he trails by seven factors for third within the championship.
“Been fairly robust,” began Kanaan when requested about Lundgaard’s season.
”I feel he tailored to the workforce fairly fast. Clearly, that’s what we employed him for, to really increase the sport with Pato [O’Ward] and Nolan. So to me, it was spectacular.
“Hopefully he’ll get a win by Sunday. I feel that’s what he’s lacking, however to return in from the struggles that they had previously to a workforce with numerous stress and ship instantly, fairly proud of him,” continued Kanaan. “To me, I hate to place expectations, however I knew he might do it, he might do that properly, but it surely was all the time that query like how lengthy is it gonna take for him to get used to the brand new workforce, and he had zero drawback adapting, so I’m fairly proud of him.”
We then targeted on Pato O’Ward, who already secured second within the IndyCar championship forward of the Music Metropolis Grand Prix, and can begin up entrance on Sunday, having secured pole place on Saturday.
O’Ward has by no means gained a race from pole place, one thing he hopes to alter Sunday in Nashville.
I requested Kanaan about O’Ward and whether or not it’s a matter of when, not if, a championship will come his method.
“I imply Pato. It’s straightforward to speak about Pato,” began Kanaan. “I feel top-of-the-line drivers I’ve ever seen.
The Arrow McLaren Crew Principal rapidly shifted his reply from O’Ward to how he views his duty to assist him.
”My duty is to attempt to give Pato a automobile that he can carry out with the least quantity of effort. Proper now, it’s fairly equal, which is nice. It’s a part of it. That’s why we employed him, however yeah, it’s only a matter of when.
“But when I put numerous stress on myself on that, it’s as a result of he can’t do it alone. He wants a workforce, and that’s my duty. So, realizing how a lot expertise he has, I put further stress on myself as a result of I really feel answerable for making an attempt to offer him one of the best of one of the best so we will exit and dominate.
”So, he positively has the aptitude, that’s an understatement.
“I feel he has confirmed that. On his outcomes, nothing that I can say or put into phrases about how gifted he’s.”
Answering reader questions
Each time I’m fortunate sufficient to sit down down with a driver or a Crew Principal, I solicit questions from readers on social media.
There have been a number of questions that readers needed me to ask Kanaan.
The primary targeted on the power the workforce is transferring into forward of the 2026 season. Arrow McLaren is transferring right into a facility previously owned by Andretti Autosport, a 74,000-square-foot facility that the workforce will increase to 86,000 sq. toes earlier than subsequent season.
In the meanwhile, Arrow McLaren operated out of a 33,000-square-foot facility.
Will this be a giant enhance for the workforce?
“To me, it’s a few issues,” started Kanaan. “We’re strict in house capabilities as a result of whenever you’re restricted in house, it’s important to outsource some issues. As a result of in case you don’t have a paint sales space, otherwise you don’t have a machine store that may have extra machines to construct stuff, it’s important to outsource that. Loads of that’s time which we don’t have. In racing, that’s gonna enhance fairly a bit.
”I feel even the notion of the folks. There is no such thing as a secret, we’re not saying that we’ve got to have a state-of-the-art facility to carry out higher, but it surely’s so totally different.
“While you purchase a brand new set of footwear that you just’re proud to put on or you’ve gotten a brand new automobile otherwise you purchase a brand new home, it’s simply modified that,” in contrast Kanaan. “After which I feel, this workforce has grown from a one-car workforce to a two-car workforce to love three, 4 automobiles. From 30 folks to 120. We’re crammed.
”So, simply that I feel it’s gonna enhance numerous the standard of labor.
“Is that gonna truly translate into outcomes? We’ll see, however at the very least we’re going to have a correct atmosphere to work in.”
One other reader needed to know if, given Kanaan’s legendary profession as a driver, drivers like O’Ward, Lundgard, and Siegel got here to him for recommendation.
”Recommendation, sure. However on conditions, it’s not like, ‘oh, how do I drive that nook?’
“I feel I’ve realized numerous that with Dario Franchitti being my coach on the finish of my profession when he retired, and he stayed at Ganassi, and I do precisely what Dario did to me,” continued Kanaan. “I ask the inquiries to make them suppose, they usually go, ‘Oh, that’s true.’
“At this level, they’re extra gifted than me.”
”However they do [ask me for advice]. They know me. They get precisely what I feel on the time, they usually can take it or not. I by no means go to them and say, ‘You gotta do that.’
“At this level, they’re extra gifted than me.”
One other reader needed to know if, given the whole lot he has achieved over his profession, there was a collection or a race that Kanaan needs he had pushed in.
The Arrow McLaren boss then gave an unimaginable reply about not dwelling with any remorse.
”I imply, I’m a racecar driver. I’d have mentioned I’d have beloved to race all over the place, however to be honest, to reply that query, I can’t say sure or no as a result of I wish to race all of them. I’m not gonna single one out.
”Do you need to go to NASCAR? I’d like to do Daytona.
”Do you wanna go to F1? After all. And you then wanna go filth racing? After all I’d, it’s a racecar it doesn’t matter what.
”I don’t know why, but it surely’s simply me.
“I don’t remorse issues. I feel I over analyze issues that didn’t go properly, however I don’t dwell on it,” added Kanaan.
“So no, I used to be dedicated to IndyCar but additionally even earlier than that I didn’t know if IndyCar was going to be on the desk for me, so I dedicated to be a racecar driver, and being a racecar driver means something that has 4 wheels, an engine, and a steering wheel, that’s what I needed to do for a dwelling.”
Being a race automobile driver, and what it takes at IMS
Picture by Robert Laberge/Getty Photographs
Through the years, each time I’ve been fortunate sufficient to talk with a racecar driver, I needed to ensure and ask them this query:
What’s the hardest a part of your job?
That single query, and the solutions I’ve been fortunate sufficient to have been given, have formed a lot of how I view the world of motorsports. They had been a driving power behind this piece from a yr in the past, and I’m already engaged on updating that story with what I’ve realized from my interviews from this season.
So I needed to ensure I requested Kanaan that query, and he took his reply in a course I didn’t count on.
“Good query,” started Kanaan, earlier than a prolonged pause.
”I feel for me, realizing the best way I do know myself, is to be okay that racing was my life. If racing was good, life was good. And if racing was unhealthy, life was unhealthy.
”And that’s very egocentric of me.
”It didn’t make a distinction once I was 18, 19, however now you develop a household with 4 children and your spouse. It’s not honest to them.
“I’m the primary one to confess that I didn’t know some other method, and I’m extraordinarily grateful that they understood that, however yeah, the stability.”
One other query I ask anytime I get to speak to IndyCar drivers is that this: What’s a lap at Indianapolis Motor Speedway like?
Kanaan is uniquely certified to reply that query for a number of causes, one in all which is the truth that he has gained the Indianapolis 500 earlier than.
As descriptive as Kanaan was with the remainder of his solutions, that is the one he had a little bit of hassle with. As a result of, properly, in his thoughts, there may be merely no straightforward strategy to describe what that lap is like.
“I’d say you’ll be able to’t choose some other laps. I’d say a quick lap proper and on the sting,” began Kanaan. “I gained’t ever be capable to specific the stress. The adrenaline. The stress. The pleasure. It’s such a mixture of good and horrifying emotions that it’s important to handle them on the similar time, as a result of in case you make a mistake, you’re on the wall.
”I do know there’s a definition of that. We must always create a phrase for the horrifying, adrenaline, nervous, concern, anger, happiness, it’s all of the above.
“I don’t suppose I can outline it.”
One more reason Kanaan is uniquely positioned to explain that lap?
It has not been too lengthy since he turned some laps at IMS.
Forward of this yr’s Indianapolis 500, Kanaan participated in a “refresher” take a look at in case the workforce wanted him to drive on Sunday. In anticipation of potential rain for the Indianapolis 500, and Larson having to depart early to go to Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600, Arrow McLaren seemed to Kanaan as a reserve driver for that spot. Within the days forward of the Indianapolis 500, Kanaan accomplished that veteran refresher take a look at — finishing 15 laps between 210 and 215 miles per hour, adopted by 15 extra laps over 215 mph — to indicate he was able to drive if wanted.
”Even once I’m 90 years outdated, in case you ask me that query, I’m going to inform you I’m, as a result of I’m a racecar driver. And I’m all the time going to be, and I’m going to be combating with my daughter, and my children, and my grandkids that I can’t.
I requested him about that have, and if he was able to go if Arrow McLaren wanted him.
Kanaan gave one other unimaginable reply.
“You already know, whenever you’re conditioned to do one thing for the longest time in your life, you do this for … truly I’m 50, I began once I was eight … 42 years of your life, and you then don’t do it for 3 years, you type of begin getting used to it. It’s from a human nature you attempt to, like, not overlook, however you type of block [it out]. In any other case you’re not gonna go away from the previous. You gotta transfer ahead. I’ve a extremely cool job proper now, intense,” began Kanaan.
”That introduced the whole lot again, and I needed to combat with my thoughts for a few days after that. To not want that it was gonna rain once more within the race, but additionally to not truly endure from that, as a result of that was my greatest concern three years earlier than that once I retired.
”I used to be like, ‘What’s gonna be the Monday after after which from then on?’
”It introduced numerous recollections again right here.
”Even once I’m 90 years outdated, in case you ask me that query, I’m going to inform you I’m, as a result of I’m a racecar driver. And I’m all the time going to be, and I’m going to be combating with my daughter, and my children, and my grandkids that I can’t.
”They need to take me out of the automobile, saying I shouldn’t be driving anymore, and I’m saying I’m a racecar driver.
“I’m going to be able to race the Indy 500 any day you name me.”
Arrow McLaren’s current, and future
As our dialog wound down, I needed to speak with Kanaan about McLaren Racing, the current at Arrow McLaren, and the IndyCar workforce’s future.
It’s a thrilling time at McLaren. On the Components 1 aspect of issues, they’re the defending Constructors’ Champions, they’re properly on their strategy to one other Constructors’ title, and drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris are the 2 main contenders for the Drivers’ Championship.
McLaren Racing additionally introduced an upcoming re-entry into the World Endurance Championship, the place they are going to make their return to that collection in 2027.
Then on the IndyCar aspect of issues, they’ve two drivers inside the highest 5 within the standings and a promising younger driver in Siegel.
“I feel it’s been extraordinarily rewarding to have the whole group doing properly as a result of previously, both we did higher after which these guys didn’t, or they did good and we didn’t. Now, it was lastly a yr that, clearly their championship will not be wherever close to being performed, but it surely’s fairly apparent, most likely what’s gonna occur is [McLaren F1 is] gonna hold it in the home. And having one of the best yr of the workforce right here, asserting the WEC, it’s all superior information. It’s a development and the momentum that we have to make the most of,” described Kanaan.
“Racing can change in a rush, particularly on the F1 aspect.”
We additionally mentioned Arrow McLaren particularly, and the way he would describe the workforce’s 2025 marketing campaign.
“I imply, you’ll be able to have a look at each methods, proper? I feel we made some progress in lots of areas; on the similar time, I feel we nonetheless have rather a lot to enhance. In a season that one automobile [championship-winner Alex Palou] dominated that a lot, it’s arduous for me to see all of the positives as a result of it’s arduous for me to say we had an amazing season, you recognize, in that facet,” began Kanaan.
”However there was numerous modifications within the workforce. We concentrated rather a lot on making the automobiles dependable for ending all of the races. If you concentrate on it, we had one thus far, nonetheless have one race to go, however mechanically can’t end with Pato [O’Ward suffered a mechanical failure in Portland and did not finish the race], in any other case [O’Ward] would have completed each lap of each race. It’s higher.
”I do know I’m extraordinarily essential, this isn’t that I don’t see the optimistic out of it, however I feel those that know me, I’m all the time on the lookout for a step increased.
”So, optimistic season, however greatest season for the workforce? However my requirements are just a little increased than that. And that doesn’t imply in not a constructive method. I feel all of us must have this mentality. We’re all the time gonna must do higher.
“So, yeah, I’m pleased with the workforce, however we nonetheless have numerous work to do.”
I closed out our dialogue with a query about Kanaan’s expectations heading into 2026.
Once more, the Arrow McLaren driver provided an interesting reply. One which felt like one other life lesson in a dialogue stuffed with them.
“Mark, expectations are difficult as a result of in case you create them and also you don’t obtain them, you’re going to have to have the ability to deal with them in a great way, and rather a lot, numerous occasions you don’t,” began Kanaan. “I wouldn’t name it an expectation, but when, in order for you me to, I’d say to be higher.
“That’s my expectation. I can’t set a objective, the objective. I don’t suppose I want to say. I feel everyone on this workforce is aware of we obtained to be higher, and being higher. It means the outcomes are gonna come, however we gotta be higher,” added Kanaan.
“We gotta be higher with our folks. We gotta be extra acceptable … it’s a excessive atmosphere, how we’re gonna be capable to take criticism or how we’re gonna have a good time a win,” continued the McLaren boss. “The expectation that I would like from everyone on this group is: Be higher.
”After which they will outline what that’s for themselves, after which in the event that they want some objectives, I’ll remind them, however I feel we’re racing, we’ve got a championship, and a giant race to win.
“That’s the plain. I simply talked to you for nearly half-hour, and I speak about obsession, chasing profitable, in order that’s the objective.”
