ADVENT CALENDAR DOOR 6 – Six keys to a McLaren Title Charge in 2026

McLaren Racing took part ownership of what was Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in 2020, in the six years since they have won nine races and had a few title challenging seasons courtesy of their star driver Pato O’Ward in 2021, 2023 and 2025.

Entering a new season the pressure is on to finally dethrone the Ganassi/Penske stranglehold of the IndyCar championship.

Here are what I believe to be the six keys to achieving the papaya dream of stateside open-wheel glory. For the purposes of writing I am going to suggest O’Ward to be their lead driver with Lundgaard and Siegel offering a supporting role, though it is possible the Dane could lead the team’s charge, Pato is the only driver to win since McLaren’s return. 

Key #1 – Mitigate Errors

Perfect Palou is an extremely high target to match, his precision and execution is that like we’ve never seen before.

However, far too many times McLaren and Pato have beaten themselves. It’s interesting that their first two shots in 2021 and 2023 faded due to Pato’s naturally aggressive style getting the best of him, bold over the top moves just not working in their direction. 

Fast forward to 2025 and while Pato still made mistakes, see crashing out of Mid Ohio qualifying, there were a lot of instances where the team strategy wasn’t on point, and of course Portland where Pato was in the mix until an engine failure ended his title hopes, followed by his blown tyre in the season finale at Nashville. 

If McLaren (or anyone) wants half a chance of winning this year’s championship they need near perfect execution for the whole season, one slip up and Palou’s ruthless consistency will come in clucth for the Spanish driver. 

Key #2 – Taming Mr. Fast Hands

McLaren often bring fast cars to the race track, speed shouldn’t be an issue and with Pato’s unreal car control he will wring the neck out of anything you give him.

What they can’t afford is an overly egregious overtaking maneuver which puts Pato in the wall and takes himself out of contention.

This is something they did get on top of in recent years but I feel is still a concern in the back of everyone’s minds. It does make for fascinating moments though as Pato’s bold moves are why we love him and polar opposite to the calm, steady surgical approach of Palou.

For McLaren it is all about finding that balance, keeping the mexican driver in check while letting him race his way and thrill us with standout performances on the track. 

Key #3 – Lundgaard’s sophomore improvement 

Christian Lundgaard’s maiden year in papaya was extremely impressive, 6 podiums and 5th in the championship was a welcome surprise and confidence inspiring headed into year 2.

If he can continue to build on the encouraging rookie season I see no reason why a win and several podiums isn’t the expectation.

Lundgaard is no stranger to victory lane anyways, winning for RLL at the 2023 Indy Toronto as well as 3  wins on the road to F1.

Even if he himself doesn’t lead the team, playing a supporting role is just as good, as it’ll take points off their opponents. Any and all benefits and advantages they can gain will be immeasurable come season’s end. 

Key #4 – Figure out the streets

One of my favourite things about the NTT IndyCar Series is the fact that there are three distinct types of tracks they race on, and to be successful you have to be strong at all of them! 2026 sees us have 6 Road courses, 6 Oval races, and 5 Street tracks.

Pato is strong on ovals, he won once and was ranked P2 over the 2025 season, his road numbers were okay but Lundgaard proved the car is good there taking 5 of his 6 podiums last season.

For whatever reason, McLaren has struggled on the street courses, and with Palou taking a podium in 2 of the 4 street races in 2025 (was taken out in Detroit), the papaya’s street struggles threaten to derail any championship charge.

It’s the only fundamental thing McLaren is missing in order to maintain a string championship position throughout the season.

Key #5 – Capitalize on Pato’s oval pace

For years, Pato O’Ward has routinely been the only non-penske allied driver to compete on the ovals in the IndyCar series.

Also this is the only weakness in Alex Palou’s armour making any performance improvements vital as these are the rounds you’d expect McLaren to pick up points to the Ganassi driver. 

The speed shouldn’t be an issue but execution is priority, if you can win a few of these oval races, over the penske cars, it’s more points gained over their rivals.

Additionally any momentum McLaren pick up would hopefully translate to better harmony and results on the non-ovals, given how strong a force like momentum is in racing that could also be crucial to success. 

Key #6 – Stabilize the #6 car and Palou situation 

While neither of these points directly impact the teams leading drivers of O’Ward and Lundgaard, surely the lawsuit with Palou and constant criticism of Nolan Siegel in the #6 car are distractions at Team HQ.

To perform at their very best if they can somehow stabilize either situation that’ll make chasing performance at the shop easier and raise the team morale as well. 

Sigel in the #6 is probably the simplier thing to look into, it’s no secret he is paying good money to be in that seat but his performance in 2025 was nowhere near that of Lundgaard or O’Ward.

The #6 car as a whole has seen a revolving door of driver as late so hopefully some consistency with Siegel who did show signs of improvement throughout 2025 will be enough to kickstart him into the midfield and challenging the front runners on occasion. 

Palou and the lawsuit over his services in 2024 is a much more off-track distraction that will take time, all McLaren can do is try to tone it out as best as possible and leave their performance on track do the talking. 

written by Carlos Faria / Media Credit: Penske Entertainment