What are McLaren Up To?

This year, McLaren has been developing the motorsport side of their company more than ever before.

Recently though, they’ve been making some interesting moves and it’s got people wondering just what the heck the papaya team are up to.

Both Zak Brown and McLaren seem to have a shared plan of being the Thanos of the motorsport world in the number of different drivers they keep collecting into their fold and what they have subsequently been doing with them.

So who are the drivers that McLaren have right now and what could they be up to? Let’s take a look.

1. Formula 1

Well start with the big one – F1. Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo are currently in the second year of their partnership and despite a lot of rumors lately, Ricciardo looks set to stay with the team for 2023.

It is also worth remembering that despite Norris’ consistency in outperforming the Aussie so far this year (including a podium at Imola), it is Ricciardo who won McLaren their last Grand Prix back in Monza in 2021.

Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren

Once he gets his current difficulties solved, Ricciardo will once again become a force to be reckoned with.

2. Indycar

Here is where things get interesting. Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenquist currently race for McLaren in Indycar with both signing extensions with the team. But curiously, the deals are with McLaren, not exclusively Indycar.

But we’ll get to that later. Earlier this month, McLaren also snatched Alex Palou away from Chip Ganassi – something CG didn’t seem to be fully aware of when they announced that Palou had agreed to continue racing for them in 2023 – something that Palou has since denied, reiterating his move to McLaren.

Juan Pablo Montoya also occasionally makes appearances for the team, most recently at the Indy 500. I’m just throwing him in here to make sure he’s included, rather than a serious contender for any of McLaren’s plans.

Through Zak Brown’s relationship with Andretti, Colton Herta is also someone that McLaren has a firm interest in with the American recently taking part in an F1 test with the team in Portimao.

Pato O’Ward has also tested an F1 car with McLaren, sparking and fueling the rumors that he would replace Ricciardo in 2023.

3. Extreme E

While not factoring largely into the overall theoretical plans below that McLaren may have, it’s worth mentioning that they also have an Extreme E team where Tanner Foust and Emma Gilmour drive for them.

Emma became the first female driver in McLaren’s history when she was announced, with the fact that she’s from New Zealand being an extra nice touch to the team’s origins.

4. So what are McLaren up to?

We don’t know is the short answer. But by signing drivers to work for the team, rather than in a specific motorsport series, it gives them a lot of flexibility and possibly one of the strongest collection of drivers of any team in the world.

Felix Rosequist stated that when he re-signed with them, the decision hadn’t yet been made if he would be racing in Indycar next year or for McLaren’s brand new Formula E team. It would make sense if he went there given McLaren’s recruitment of Palou and the slim chances that Paolou would switch to FE.

However by also giving Herta and O’Ward tasters of what it would be like to race in F1, they’ve got the option, if they want it, to switch Ricciardo into Indycar where he might perform better.

Thus, whilst having a rookie in both teams, they would also have highly experienced and race winning rookies with more years under their belt than anyone from Formula 2 could offer them, thus minimizing the risk.

There’s also the curious case of Jehan Daruvala. He’s a Red Bull junior driving currently in his third season of Formula 2. It doesn’t look like he’s going to make the step up to F1 with them anytime soon (mainly due to the lack of seats and the fact that he’s not currently in the driver’s fight for the F2 Championship).

But he’s recently done a test drive with McLaren too – also at Portimao – with a second one possibly having already taken place by the time you read this. Could he be someone they’re looking at for a Ricciardo replacement or an IndyCar drive? Other F2 alumni like Ilott and Lungaard have gone over there so it’s not a stretch to see the Indian do the same with McLaren.

Or are they just letting Daruvala live out his F1 fantasy because it doesn’t seem likely that Red Bull will give him that chance? On a chess board of drivers where we can’t quite see the bigger picture, Daruvala’s involvement seems very left field and is possibly just a red herring to throw us off the scent.

But if we assume that everything stays as it is, then Rosenquist still needs a teammate for Formula E – which is where things get interesting again.

Zak Brown recently stated that McLaren are interested in fielding a team in W Series with the ambition of bringing the first female driver onto the F1 grid for quite some time.

Emma Gilmour shows the team has precedence in this area and Gilmour herself could act as a great coach for any young talent they decide to choose for W Series. Furthermore, McLaren could go one step further and make history by recruiting one of the current W Series drivers – someone experienced like Emma Kimiläinen or Abbie Eaton – and having them partner Rosenquist in Formula E, thus becoming the first female driver in that series in the process.

Then, with the mix of track days they’ve been giving their drivers so far, there’s no reason why Kimiläinen couldn’t get a test in Indycar or why Ricciardo couldn’t try his hand at Formula E and so on.

Even if these drivers don’t end up in these series, it’s a good way for McLaren to assess all of their drivers and constantly be sure that the right drivers are in the right places. Moreover, should a switch need to be made, every driver would already have some experience in the series they’d be entering.

Finally, it’s worth remembering that McLaren also have Ugo Ugochukwu in their young driver program and that while still in British Formula 4, they may take him on a similar path to Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton before him and get him firmly embedded into the McLaren family before deciding where to put him.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL36, leads Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36 entering a corner

By the time they do, some of the drivers above may have either retired or moved on, thereby leaving a space to be filled which McLaren will be able to do with someone new, young and fresh who can help keep pushing the team forwards.

To attempt to answer the question of this article then, McLaren appears to be playing a game of chess with itself. In doing so, they’re not limiting themselves to any one motorsport series, like an outfit such as Red Bull does.

Instead, it allows them to develop young and experienced talent in a multitude of different forms of motorsport, thereby rounding them into excellent drivers capable of handling anything that is thrown at them. Having drivers as experienced as Tanner Foust also means that they can all learn from one another and continually improve.

If this is what they’re doing, then looking at the bigger picture it’s a smart move and might just give them the competitive edge over everyone else.

It does feel a bit like the MCU when it first started out which can only mean we’re inevitably heading towards McLaren’s version of ‘Avengers Assemble’. If so, then I can’t wait to see what that (and the marketing) looks like.

Author: Thiemo Albers-Daly