Arrow McLaren 2025 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Race Report
Streets of St. Petersburg
Race date: Sunday, March 2
Round: 1/17
Total laps: 100
Total race distance: 180 miles/289.7 km
Length: 1.8 miles/2.9 km
Number of turns: 14
Christian Lundgaard, No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet
Starting position: P5
Finishing position: P8
Championship position: 8th, 25 points
“It was a really, really good first weekend overall. From where we were in Practice 1 to Practice 2 to Qualifying, we just kept chugging speed out of the car and got faster and faster into the race. Going in, it was a big question mark on strategy, what was going to work and what wasn’t. I hate to see the cars that are always on the better side of the strategy are the winning cars again. Obviously I would have liked to have been in that situation. The Firestone Alternate tire runners got the lucky yellow in the beginning of the race, and it simplified their race from there. We got to lead a good amount of the race, which was awesome for a debut with Arrow McLaren, so I’m very happy for that. The rest was pretty much just damage control. We were looking at a good result but also potential for a very bad result. We chose a bit of a safer route, and we got home in eighth. At the end of the day, we get points for that and leading the race, which is pretty cool.”
Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet
Starting position: P23
Finishing position: P11
Championship position: 11th, 19 points
“Things were tough starting out with a puncture on a pretty messy start in front of us. From what we had today, I would say we maximized things after starting further back than where we would have liked. We got some solid points and it’s important to make sure our bad days aren’t too bad. Great job by the team with the pit stops and the strategy, and I’m looking forward to Thermal in a couple weeks.”
Nolan Siegel, No. 6 NTT DATA Arrow McLaren Chevrolet
Starting position: P11
Finishing position: P25
Championship position: 25th, 5 points
“That was a very disappointing end to a strong weekend. We had pace in every session and on both tires. For how hard this team has worked, coming away from today with that result is disappointing. We’ll continue working hard, though. We’ve shown what we have. The whole No. 6 NTT DATA Arrow McLaren Chevrolet team executed well all weekend. If we continue to execute like that all year, we’re going to have some good results when the luck is on our side.”
Tony Kanaan, Team Principal, Arrow McLaren
“It was a positive weekend and we executed the best we could. We’ve talked a lot about consistency this year, and I think we did execute there. You can’t control how certain things will play out in the race, and strategy can often be a hit or miss. But I’m happy with the result and the way the team was working together. We’re never happy with anything but first place, but we can take positives from here and regroup. All our partners were here and we had a huge car launch, so the vibe was awesome and the whole team is behind one another. I couldn’t ask for anything better apart from a win, but it will come.”
