By David Morgan, Associate Editor
They knew he was there.
Pato O’Ward and Arrow McLaren had themselves a great weekend going out in the California desert for Sunday’s Thermal Club Grand Prix at the Thermal Club course outside of Palm Springs.
Then along came the inevitability of Alex Palou.
After leading a race-high 51 laps from the pole, O’Ward’s No. 5 papaya orange Chevrolet running the primary black Firestone tires, held serve over Palou’s No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda running the red alternates, but with 10 laps to go, the tire advantage became too much for O’Ward to hold off as Palou passed him and skated away with the lead.
Palou would eventually pull out to a 10.185 second margin of victory, with O’Ward able to hold onto second over his Arrow McLaren teammate Christian Lundgaard to put both team cars on the podium.
“51 laps. It kind of sucks to lose it there in the end,” said O’Ward.
“Yeah, we need to keep pushing. We obviously weren’t perfect. There is obviously something that we could have done better in order to give it more of a proper fight to the 10 car.
“Yeah, great weekend all around. Great recovery. Looking forward to Long Beach.”
Alex Palou takes the lead from Pato O'Ward! #INDYCAR pic.twitter.com/WlVGf8TEc1
— INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) March 23, 2025
O’Ward pointed to the tire differential at the end of the race being the biggest factor in why Palou was able to secure the lead as the finish closed in, noting the advantage the alternates provided to the three-time and defending series champion down the stretch.
“Sticker set of red tires. That was the answer for losing the lead,” O’Ward said.
“I think the team did a phenomenal job in the pits. I mean, the car has been a joy to drive all weekend. In the race, as well.
“We ran a red, black, black, black race. I think it should have been a red, red, black, black or any sort of combination with two reds and two blacks. I think we missed it on the 5 car. We can only see why we chose that, try not to make that mistake again.”
In addition, O’Ward explained that he was having issues with his hybrid unit experiencing overheating problems during the race, leaving it unable to be used for a good portion of the event. Overheating issues with the hybrid would derail fellow Chevrolet driver Scott McLaughlin in the second half of the race.
While he noted that it wasn’t a major factor in his chances of keeping Palou behind him, he did say that Thermal is a track where having that tool would have been useful.
“50% of the race I couldn’t use the thing. Just overheats (smiling), so…
“Obviously here it’s probably one of the most helpful areas where the hybrid is of good use because of those very stop-and-go corners and long straightaways.
“In race trim, like, if you’re asking me if I would have won that race if I didn’t have those issues, the answer is still no.”
O’Ward also took umbrage with the difficulty of dealing with lapped traffic throughout the day, especially during the portion of the race when he was the leader and found himself held up by the backmarkers.
He explained how he would have liked to see some more friendly driving from the other Chevrolet teams as he worked his way through them.
“I mean, I hate to whine about it, but it sucks to be the leader,” said O’Ward. “All of our Chevy affiliate teams are worthless with helping when a Chevy leader is coming up on them. Honda seem to work as a team very, very well because Foster was doing everything in his power to keep me behind. Palou gets right behind him, and he just lets him cruise by.
“I still think Palou would have gotten us sooner or later. Obviously that just makes it a bit more of an annoyance rather than a joy.”
He concluded by noting how results like Sunday at Thermal aid the Arrow McLaren IndyCar team as it strives to be in the same situation as the Formula 1 team, which finished 1-2 on Sunday in China, and is a weekly threat for the win, having won both races thus far in 2025.
“We’re aware, man. We want to be doing what F1 is currently doing,” O’Ward said.
“I think the fight here in INDYCAR is different, definitely different. I think McLaren right now are leading the way in their situation, and we’re still chasing. We’re still chasing to be the best, so…
“We’ll get there.”
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