Sitting side by side in their crisp new uniforms, Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist seemed to be enjoying each other’s company before practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Not all racing teammates get along well, but the Arrow McLaren SP duo certainly appear to be on the same page heading into Sunday’s Indy 500.
Unless…
“We hate each other,” O’Ward said with a smirk.
“It’s all an act,” the straight-faced Rosenqvist quickly added.
In reality, the two would have to work together whether they liked each other or not. Along with Juan Pablo Montoya — the team’s third driver for the 500 — they’d still have to share feedback in team debriefs, work with the engineers and compare the feel of their race cars.
But it certainly helps to have good chemistry.
“We spend a lot of time with each other, and it’s just so much more helpful when you get along,” Rosenqvist said. “In the end, you (see) your teammate more than your family during the season. So if you get along, that’s a huge plus.”
“It just makes the crappy days so much better,” O’Ward said.
O’Ward is an effervescent 23-year-old from Mexico and Rosenqvist is a chill 30-year-old from Sweden. But they mesh well off the track and on it, where their setup preferences and feedback match up quite well for oval races.
They’ll start next to each other on Row 3 of the world’s biggest auto race on Sunday — O’Ward in seventh, Rosenqvist in eighth — with both feeling like they have a true chance at being contenders.
“I really think we’ve got a shot, man,” O’Ward said. “A good race car is the key to winning the race here. You need to qualify decently, but if you’re within the first 12, you’re OK. It really comes down to creating the best race package you can.”
They’ll be driving McLaren cars with the traditional papaya colors and designed with clothing/lifestyle brand Undefeated, hoping to draw both younger fans and perhaps some crossover from the team’s Formula One supporters.
“I think we have the best-looking cars on the grid and the best-looking team in the grid,” O’Ward said. “It’s very well-presented and the image looks exactly how anything that’s McLaren should look. It’s very F1-esque; as clean and cut as you can get it here in IndyCar.”
McLaren has a huge following on the Formula One side. How much crossover is there from F1 fans who are looking for someone to cheer for in IndyCar?
O’Ward: I’ve gained so many more fans and there are more people following because they’re McLaren fans. And then they become the driver’s fan. Because I feel like our team, both with McLaren F1 and with Arrow McLaren SP, we do a really good job in showing everything outside of the race car. And that’s what people want to see. That’s what people grow to love, and then they come to the race and watch you race. But first, they have to see the human side of you.
Our team has been the benchmark and it is still. I feel like we’re leading the type of marketing the teams and drivers and series have to do in order to grow. Like our marketing team — I’ll probably get this number wrong — is over 12 people. It’s huge. And you’ll see other teams that have like one.
F1 is owned by a marketing company. The guys know what the formula is to make something boom. What I’ve seen more now is they’ve turned F1 into like a status update for people: “Ooh, I was at the F1 race.” They have no idea what race cars are, but it’s “I was at the F1 race and I took a picture with Charles Leclerc.” That’s their flex on social media. And that’s what’s making the brand even bigger, because then other people are like, “Well, I want to go to the F1 race and I want to be in the paddock.” It’s making really high-profile people want to go, and that just helps the brand and boosts the brand.
I’m not saying IndyCar should go trying to be Formula One, because if you’re trying to do that, it ain’t going to be successful. People aren’t going to pay the numbers that people are willing to pay to go to Formula One. But I do think there should be a lot of investment in trying to get our product out into people’s grasp. And the only way to do that is to get (content on) a platform that many people already have — not something people have to go out of their way and buy something new and then be able to see it. People are not going to do that.
For example, if we do a “Drive to Survive” and we’re doing it on some like channel, people aren’t gonna go out of their way to buy the channel just to see it. But if we have like an HBO or Amazon Prime or a Hulu or Netflix, people will watch that. And if people get hooked with the first episode, they’re going to continue to watch and be like, “I want to go and I want to see what races these guys have on their calendar.”
And then they’ll go to the pricing and be like, “Pfft. This is so much better.” The average fan experience in IndyCar destroys the average fan experience of Formula One. It’s so much better for the average fan here in IndyCar than in Formula One because, sadly, if you want the best experience in Formula One, it’s probably gonna cost you $15,000-$20,000. And in IndyCar you should probably do it for like…
Rosenqvist: Two hundred bucks.
There’s no question IndyCar has a more competitive racing product than F1. But it seems like a lot of people don’t realize that. Do you feel frustration in the IndyCar paddock over that, and do you have any ideas for how IndyCar can get more attention?
Rosenqvist: Obviously, F1 has had a huge boost the last couple of years, which has been great for us as well. We shouldn’t try to be F1 though. They’re very different than the concept we have with spec cars. We probably have like one-hundredth of the budget of our McLaren Formula One team, so it’s a very different product.
But the product is very good. If there’s one thing IndyCar should do more like F1, it’s probably that we don’t need the kind of fake recipe to our races — like when they close the pits for a yellow. The series is at a point where the racing is so good that you don’t need to have randomness to create good results. Maybe that’s my opinion because I come from a different background of racing. But otherwise, I think the product is great. Obviously, the marketing side is very important. And that’s probably where we can we can learn a lot.
O’Ward: I think where F1 has grown massively is in the female market, where they like to watch it now because it’s like watching their favorite actor racing a Formula One car. All their growth is because of Netflix. I don’t care what anybody says — it’s because of that show. And I just think it’s because people have found a human connection with their favorite driver and that’s what has attracted so many people.
From a racing standpoint, I don’t think IndyCar can get much better. And in terms of competitiveness, I don’t think it can get much better there, either. But I do think IndyCar has a huge opportunity with all these different drivers being interested in the series — something like 16 different countries are racing in IndyCar — more than what F1 has. And I just don’t agree with narrowing our mindset to just America.
The series has room to expand and grow so much more. Going to Mexico or going to Europe — because with McLaren coming into the picture, there’s a lot more European fans now. So there is that market to have a successful race. Going to Japan, where (Takuma) Sato is huge. Going to Australia, we have (Will) Power. There are so many races that make sense outside the US market and it would make the series grow. We’re not doing enough on that front and I really hope we go to those places.
If we go to Mexico? That thing is going to be sold out and it’s going to be the best grand prix we have all year aside from the Indy 500.
For international fans who might question whether the Indy 500 is truly the biggest race in the world, where do you come down on that? Because I’ve heard people argue Le Mans is bigger.
O’Ward: I don’t agree.
Rosenqvist: I’ve done Le Mans. I wasn’t there as a fan and I think the fan experience is way different than it is here. It’s a big track and you’re out in the field grilling or barbecuing. But you can’t compare it with this. My parents have been to all these races and the first time they came here, they were shocked. Like, “Wow, this is so cool.” And I’d recommend anyone who can to visit the 500, because there’s nothing like this. It’s such a unique atmosphere. And this is the one race I want to win more than any other.
(Photo of Pato O’Ward: Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
