Arrow McLaren driver Pato O’Ward was faced with challenge after challenge at the 2026 IndyCar Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix, leaving the 26-year-old incredibly confused with a plethora of questions and very few answers.
After a string of tricky qualifying sessions for the team, O’Ward qualified 12th for the 2026 IndyCar race at Barber — a track where he’d soon realise that starting position would prove integral. He was eliminated in the penultimate round of qualifying, just before the Firestone Fast Six, along with his teammate Christian Lundgaard, who qualified ahead of him in 10th.
Qualifying has been a sore spot for the Arrow McLaren team this season, especially when it comes to maintaining their competitiveness throughout the weekend. The Mexican driver’s qualifying results, so far, include P3 in Arlington, 7th in Phoenix, and 8th in St. Petersburg.
One would think that, despite starting outside the top 10, he’d bounce back with another consistent top-5 finish.
However, his circumstances changed dramatically during the race, leaving him struggling to break into the top 10. Ultimately, O’Ward finished in 17th place, marking his worst result of the season so far and ending his top-5 streak.
Pato O’Ward speechless on why the #5 team struggled at the 2026 IndyCar race in Barber
As the green flag waved, O’Ward instantly dropped from 12th to 16th in the starting order. Until his first pit stop, he remained in 15th position after battling it out with Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Rinus Veekay.
In a press release shared by McLaren, the Mexican expressed his shock at how quickly things unraveled for him.
“It was a really difficult day for us here at Barber. I don’t have an answer right now as to why we struggled,” he admitted.
O’Ward “happy” that at least one Arrow McLaren driver was able to land on the podium in Barber
On the other side, his teammate Christian Lundgaard was en route to fighting for a race win before a pit stop mishap left the Danish driver fighting for second.
“I’m happy to see the 7 with Christian get a podium; I know they were fighting there for the win. There are things we need to work on as a team, but I’m glad one of the cars from the team was strong.“
Speaking of his teammate, the #5 driver shared that both drivers had similar set-ups, but the disparity in the outcome left him feeling absolutely “helpless” in the car.
“We need to see where we went wrong, but we weren’t all that different than their car, so it was a very confusing day and one of those weekends where I felt helpless inside of the race car.”
O’Ward will fight hard to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself
After his first pit stop, O’Ward emerged ahead of Alexander Rossi in 13th position on black sidewall tyres. During his second pit stop, he continued to fight for track positions alongside the ECR driver.
During his third and final pit stop, everything went wrong for O’Ward as he dropped to 16th and eventually fell to 17th after Romain Grosjean overtook him. This one result cost him a crucial position in the championship.
After the 2026 IndyCar race in Barber, Pato O’Ward dropped from third to sixth in standings, a three-place demotion with his teammate Christian Lundgaard taking over third.
The 2022 Barber winner admitted that instances like this allow you to turn the misfortune around in your favor for the future.
“The good thing about getting beat like this is you kick it into a different gear,” he admitted.
“We’ll be pushing hard to make sure we don’t let something like this happen again.”
