Lundgaard on possible Arrow McLaren departure: "That's on them, not me"

Credit: Matt Fraver

It was been just two weeks since Christian Lundgaard saw the chequered flag first at Road America in a season-defining drive that felt like the final piece of the puzzle toward extending his contract with Arrow McLaren.

At that point, was there anywhere else Lundgaard would have rather be than McLaren?

"I mean, no", said the Dane following his second victory of 2026.

Fast forward two weeks later and it seems that there are just a number of races before Lundgaard's time in papaya comes to a surprise end.

That all comes after Thursday's announcement that six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon will leave Chip Ganassi Racing at the end of 2026 after 25 seasons with the team. His likely landing zone is Arrow McLaren where he is expected to re-unite with former teammate Felix Rosenqvist, who is also expected to move McLaren, just three years after he left the team to move to Meyer Shank Racing. With Pato O'Ward under a long-term deal with the outfit, it leaves no space for Lundgaard and Nolan Siegel in McLaren's three-car line-up in 2027.

It is a move that comes as a surprise given the fact that Lundgaard has exceeded expectations since he joined the team at the start of the 2025 season and became the first McLaren driver not named Pato O'Ward to have claimed a victory since the marque returned to the series in 2020. Lundgaard also comes into the Mid-Ohio weekend as the top McLaren driver in the standings and the only one who has claimed a podium so far this season.

Was Lundgaard blindsided by this after his success at Road America? Not necessarily.

“Sure, but you never really know do you," said Lundgaard of his future prior to practice at Mid-Ohio. "At the end of the day I was hired to win, and I’m doing that, so if they change their minds on that, that’s on them not me.”

With Lundgaard's impending departure from McLaren, he becomes the most attractive free agent for team owners to pursue for 2027, with open seats expected at Chip Ganassi Racing, Andretti Global, Meyer Shank Racing and AJ Foyt Racing, to name a few of Lundgaard's likely destinations.

That said, a clause in Lundgaard's contract prevents him from negotiating with other teams until later on in the season, which is "not in the near future".

Lundgaard was unable to confirm if any teams have enquired about his availability but shared: “I’m sure they have. That’s why I have a manager.”

Credit: Chris Jones

It is a change of circumstances that few had saw coming, none more so than Lundgaard's former teammate Graham Rahal.

“If you look at the market, he’s the best available, but it’s not really my department. I hope he’s not on the market to be honest, I think that’s really unfair.

"If he is, if I’m a team owner, you have to look at his results this year and say he’s the best guy that’s been in that car this year. He’s the only guy to have been on the podium for McLaren, he’s the only guy to have won a race for them this year. So you can’t sit and say that he’s not the best driver on the team at this given time. He would be that no matter where he goes, other than maybe Ganassi."

Rahal raced alongside Lundgaard at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing across four seasons, a period which saw Lundgaard claim Rookie of the Year in 2022 and claim a maiden IndyCar victory on the Streets of Toronto in 2023.

“Look, I already had him, so I know what he can do," Rahal added. "I know he was fast but I also know I held my own, so for me it’s great to see him have that success.”

Lundgaard's stock within the free agent market will only increase with a strong run of races as the 24-year-old continues to chase a first IndyCar championship. Lundgaard lies a sizeable 77 points off championship leader Álex Palou, the two of them having been the dominant forces on road courses so far this season.

Lundgaard has the advantage in the win column though, having found Victory Lane at Road America and Indianapolis, with the first road course race of the year at Barber won by Palou - a race that fell out of Lundgaard's hands after a botched final pit stop. Mid-Ohio has been a happy hunting ground for Palou in previous years more so than Lundgaard, but it is weekends like these which will be pivotal to take points off Palou if Lundgaard has a shot at the title.

“Well winning would be great," Lundgaard said of the Mid-Ohio weekend. "[Palou] is strong, he’s strong everywhere he goes, so it’s tough. I feel like I’m in many ways in a better position than Kyle [Kirkwood] and David [Malukas] are, even though I’m behind them in the championship. But we just need to have a strong ending to the season where Álex has a more unfortunate end to it. But we have to keep doing what we’re doing, win races, and we just have to finish ahead of him.”

How will Lundgaard re-claim second in the standings from Kirkwood and Malukas? Momentum.

"I feel like we’ve got some good tracks coming up for us, where they’re also strong, but I feel like we’re one stronger than they are, and we have to minimise damage on weekends where we aren’t strong enough," Lundgaard added.

Out of nowhere, Lundgaard is suddenly racing with his IndyCar future on the line. Where he will end up? Time will tell, but it marks a sudden turn of events that will likely be the key domino into the rest of the IndyCar driver market decisions.