Zak Brown weighing 4th full-time car for Arrow McLaren, buying Andretti Autosport's shop
LONG BEACH, Calif. – Having seen his newly-expanded IndyCar team get off to such a hot start in 2023, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown says he’s mulling the proposition of growth yet again for 2024, in order to potentially keep Felix Rosenqvist onboard beyond the end of this season. But not only is the team’s current shop on Indianapolis' northside running out of space, after hiring 40 employees for Alexander Rossi’s new full-time entry as they ready to run four cars in May’s Indy 500 for the first time, Arrow McLaren’s plans for a new race shop have stalled, too.
Last May, the team announced its intent to more than double their shop space by building a new 97,000 square-foot facility in Whitestown that would be fully operational by early 2024. Having yet to break ground on those plans nearly 11 months later, IndyStar has learned the team is currently in talks with Andretti Autosport to take over the shop that currently houses Michael Andretti’s various racing operations when Andretti moves into its new $200 million digs in Fishers in 2025.
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Representatives with both teams confirmed talks have been held, though nothing has been decided.
The two-mile move down the road on the northside would mean Arrow McLaren wouldn’t have to sweat the complications and varying costs of construction in the current economy and could slide into a turnkey space that currently houses Andretti’s four full-time IndyCar entries, its fifth car in May for Marco Andretti and its four-car Indy NXT team, among other projects. At the moment, Arrow McLaren will run a fourth car for this May’s 500 for Tony Kanaan and is already contracted to run NASCAR champ Kyle Larson in his 500 debut in 2024 — with an option available for both sides to team up for a second attempt, too.
"I think (we'll move into a new shop) in 2025 — some time in 2025, maybe even the end," Brown told reporters Friday.
Asked whether the team could shoehorn in a fourth full-time entry, along with the necessary prep for Larson’s car, new Arrow McLaren racing director Gavin Ward told IndyStar, “I think we probably need some more space.
“And right now in the current world, it’s difficult to do that kind of project (like building a new shop), but it’s super important for us. To get to where we want to be, we need better facilities. We’re working at it, and we’re on target, but we’re hoping to have more news to announce on that soon.”
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'We already know next year's plans'
After a chaotic silly season a year ago, where Arrow McLaren announced it signed Alex Palou to join the IndyCar team this year before Chip Ganassi Racing sued its 2021 champ to hold him to run out the end of his current deal with CGR, Brown told reporters Friday he has already put the finishing touches on his IndyCar team’s 2024 driver lineup.
With Pato O’Ward and Rossi currently under long-term deals and Rosenqvist’s set to run out after this option year is complete, one would presume Brown’s statement points toward the eventual arrival of Palou, though his CGR deal says he cannot formally speak with other teams regarding future deals until September.
Such a move would leave Rosenqvist without a home for 2024 after spending three years with Arrow McLaren following a two-year stint at Ganassi. But, Brown said, he won’t yet rule out the Swedish driver's return.
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“We’re starting to discuss (running four cars full-time in 2024), but there’s not Leaders Circle (money), so you have that issue,” Brown said. “We’ve just gone from having one really competitive car, and last year we had two competitive cars, so now we want to make sure we have three competitive cars before we really consider a fourth.”
Brown said Rosenqvist would no doubt be in the running for such a project.
“He needs to win races. Last year, he showed us some speed and consistency, but he wasn’t yet at the front. Now, he’s come out the strongest (on Arrow McLaren) in the first two races from a qualifying standpoint, and he needs to get his season really started (in Long Beach). He just needs to hang with Pato and Alex, and then, it’s a question of whether we build on our (2024) plans that we’re already aware of.”
Rosenqvist: 'Contracts always end at some point'
Brown’s statements reopen the prospect of yet another chaotic year for Rosenqvist off-track, as he’s spent the past two-plus years trying to prove he belonged at Arrow McLaren. In two years at Ganassi, he won Rookie of the Year in 2019 with 10 top-10s, six top-5s, a pair of runner-up finishes and a pole on the IMS road course. In 2020, he picked up his only IndyCar win at Road America, but didn’t log his second top-10 that year until the eighth race, and he dropped to 11th in points after finishing sixth as a rookie.
Rosenqvist’s first year at Arrow McLaren in 2021 was rocky, featuring two top-15 finishes in his first 10 starts, and missed a pair starts for a concussion he suffered in a crash at Detroit, while O’Ward seriously contended for a title and won twice. His start to 2022 was no better, though sixth on the IMS road course sparked a solid May that also included fourth in the 500. He eventually logged his first podium with the team at Toronto and rebounded to take eighth in points.
He’s flashed speed in qualifying this year, starting eighth in St. Pete and claiming a second consecutive pole at Texas, but a crash on Lap 1 at St. Pete after a hip-check from Scott Dixon left him 19th. At Texas, he battled a car all day he said lacked balance and he wasn’t comfortable in, and on Lap 179, he drifted too high in Turn 4 in the marbles and lost it into the wall.
“I think I would be more bummed if I didn’t have the pace, but that’s been really good. It sucks when you don’t have the results you want, but also, what are you going to do about it?” Rosenqvist said Friday. “You just have to get back on the horse and clear your mind and try to get it done.
“I think you always have a little extra (urgency) when you have two poor weekends in a row. You don’t want to have three, but I think the best thing you can do is not really think about it and trust yourself, your abilities, your team members and your car. I’ve never been in a stronger team than I am now.”
Rosenqvist had initially agreed to terms on a deal with Brown last summer that gave the McLaren Racing CEO the leeway to either keep the Swede in IndyCar or shift him to McLaren’s new Formula E program that debuted earlier this year. Not long after, he had a change of heart and was willing to keep his IndyCar career going, even if it meant a move to a much smaller team, like the Juncos Hollinger Racing shop rumored to be interested in his services.
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Ahead of the St. Pete opener, Rosenqvist recently bought a house in Carmel and was soon to be joined by girlfriend from Sweden, too. Whatever Brown decides, “I want to be here,” he said back in March. “I feel happy being over here, and I want to take a bigger step in spending my life here. It doesn’t matter what my contract situation is. I have to just go for it. When you do things well, things go easy, and when you don’t, things are difficult, so I’m just going to try and focus on the driving part, and I hope things will be good.
“Anything can happen. Elephants can start raining from the sky. There’s so many scenarios, but contracts always end at some point.”
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar: Arrow McLaren considers 4th full-time car, new shop delayed
