O'Ward on "competitive" IndyCar field and 2026 title fight

Written by Morgan Holiday

Credit: Joe Skibinski

In 2025, Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward finished second in the IndyCar Series Championship. 

It was his first time finishing the season as the runner-up in six full-time IndyCar seasons. He achieved six podiums (two of them race wins, one a third place at the Indianapolis 500) on his way to the end of the year, but it still wasn’t enough to beat Álex Palou. Not even close, actually. Palou finished just shy of 200 points ahead of O’Ward, his closest rival, as a historic run took him to his third consecutive championship win.

For the rest of the drivers, beating Palou has seemed to be an impossible task in recent years. O’Ward got closer than anyone else last season but he still fell short. This season, he’s coming in ready to fight.

Championship battle

Speaking to the media during IndyCar content day, the McLaren driver discussed Palou’s recent dominance and what it will take to beat him in 2026.

“The guy, we keep saying he can't raise the bar the previous year,” O’Ward said. “I have no idea how he's going to raise the bar from last year. If he does, then I think everyone is toast. We got to keep chasing, keep on going and seeing how we can make him slow a little bit more. It's been too easy for him.”

O’Ward fought closely with Palou, not just for the championship, but for the Indy 500 win as well, an even more coveted achievement. O’Ward’s third place in last year’s 500 stung off the back of 2024’s heartbreak, where he came in a close second to Josef Newgarden. 

Credit: Aaron Skillman

“I want to be able to beat him,” O’Ward said of Palou. “I think there's a lot of drive and hunger not just from me but from the team; I believe everybody else in the paddock wants to do exactly that.”

While Palou’s dominance might seem unbeatable, O’Ward knows there’s a lot of talent in the field (himself included) ready to swoop in when there’s a crack in the Spaniard’s form.

“It's such a competitive championship. I do think he and Ganassi have made it look very easy. So for us it's just important to make sure that we just got to execute. What I mean by that is we can't have the little slip-ups that you might see from us. We've never had a year where there hasn't been any slip-ups. We're still striving for that perfection and still striving to see that.

“That's what you see from the 10 car. Like that is what you see championship-winning car have. If they do have a slipup, it's usually quite small. It's important for us to focus on what we can control, but by doing that, that should put us in a pretty healthy spot getting into Laguna at the end.”

Building on experience

While Palou’s dominance has put a damper on everyone else’s championship hopes for the moment, for drivers like O’Ward, there are a lot of positives to take away from 2025. O’Ward’s 10 top-five finishes (in 17 races) was a career best, and he finished the season over 50 points ahead of his closest rival, Scott Dixon.

“Just got to keep on building to what we've been able to accomplish,” O’Ward commented, looking ahead to the coming season. “We don't want to stay static. We always want to move forward. Even if it's a small step, we want to make sure we don't stay where we're at. We always want to go better.

“That's what we tend to do every single year. I believe that we've come to a point where that big step to getting that 500, getting championship, we're right there. That little extra step I believe is in doing so, it's not actually doing something to be able to get that.

“I think we're already there. We just have to get it done. That's what we're going to be looking forward to doing.”

Credit: Chris Owens

Taking steps forward often involves making changes, something Arrow McLaren has been willing to do over the past few years. The big change this off-season? A new headquarters for the team located in Indianapolis that more than doubles the size of their old shop.

“Yeah, I mean, it feels like we're going from a studio apartment to the penthouse considering where we were,” commented O’Ward on their new location, which was officially unveiled along with the team’s 2026 liveries this past week. 

“Obviously in terms of atmosphere and motivation, we're surrounded by just an HQ that's a lot cooler. It excites you to go to work every day. You see the pictures and you see what we've been able to accomplish so far and so much more that we want to accomplish.

“All of that means something even if it's not like right in your face. It's in your subconscious every day that you walk through there and see that.

“I think it's coming at the perfect time. I would say probably a little bit late, but better late than never. It really is a cool part not just for me being able to see the journey of what the team was six years ago, this is my seventh season, I've been a part of that and they've been a part of my growth as well. That's been very, very cool to see.”

McLaren and O’Ward will be looking for big things in 2026, starting at the season opener in St. Petersburg on March 1, now less than a month away.