Pato O'Ward calls Christian Lundgaard 'full of (expletive)' ahead of final weekend as teammates

As Christian Lundgaard enters his final weekend driving for Arrow McLaren, there appears to be no love lost between Lundgaard and teammate Pato O’Ward. Arrow McLaren is letting go of Lundgaard in favor of Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist, two drivers the team feels are closer to its goal of winning the Indianapolis 500 – which Dixon and Rosenqvist have both done once.

Lundgaard feels some of his oval struggles with Arrow McLaren in the past two seasons have come as a result of the team being rigid in its setup, which is catered toward O’Ward. O’Ward is known for preferring a looser setup than most IndyCar drivers, which Lundgaard hasn’t enjoyed.

“Well for starters, have teammates that need the same thing,” Lundgaard told Fox broadcaster Will Buxton on Speed with Harvick and Buxton after Buxton asked what it would take to improve his oval performances. “I mean, personal opinion, Scott and Felix are going to struggle with Pato in that regard. Pato runs something so different.”

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After O’Ward won both of IndyCar’s races on Milwaukee Mile’s short oval on Aug. 30 – where Lundgaard placed third and sixth – he disagreed with Lundgaard’s assessment in an interview with ESPN Deportes.

When translating Spanish to English via Microsoft Copilot, O’Ward said, “Everyone in IndyCar is kind of on their own little island. I know Christian loves to say that everything is set up for me, and he loves to say that the car only goes in the direction I ask for. But what he says about the oval program being built only around what I want is complete (expletive). As we like to say in English, ‘He is full of (expletive).’ It’s not true.

“If I remember correctly, at most of the tracks we’re usually on opposite sides when it comes to setup. He develops his car and I develop mine. In fact, at several races, if one of us is struggling a lot, we switch to the other guy’s setup and it ends up working better.”

Coming into the Grand Prix of Monterey, the final race of the IndyCar season, Alex Palou has clinched his fourth straight championship while Lundgaard is second in the standings and O’Ward is fourth. Only four points separate the two Arrow McLaren drivers, with Kyle Kirkwood (two points behind Lundgaard and two points ahead of O’Ward) in third.

Lundgaard’s third-place finish at the Milwaukee Mile was the first podium on an oval in his IndyCar career, which started with one race in 2021 before he became a full-time driver for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in 2022. Arrow McLaren team principal Tony Kanaan previously stated, “We all don’t think Christian is there yet” in regard to ovals. After O’Ward’s first win at the Milwaukee Mile, Kanaan defended his decision.

“The question was not if he could win on the oval; the question was when,” Kanaan said. “In my opinion, when I made the decision, I wasn’t sure. I think if that was what took him to come up and bring himself to the next level, obviously we didn’t give up on him, ’cause look what he’s doing right now. Hey, life is full of tough decisions on both ends. If that actually is what he needed, we’re going to give him a hell of a fight next year, and likewise. The sport is going to be better. The fans are going to watch it.”

Lundgaard feels that anyone who places second to Palou, who has dominated IndyCar in the 2020s, shouldn’t be replaced. Despite that, Arrow McLaren is moving on from the 25-year-old after this weekend.

“If you can be the second-best driver, I don’t need to tell the media what I think about the decision for them to not continue with me,” Lundgaard told Buxton. “But if they’re getting rid of the driver who’s finishing second in the championship, there must be a different plan that I don’t think any of us sees.”

Lundgaard will look to hold onto second place at Laguna Seca, where he finished second to Palou last season.

Zion Brown is IndyStar’s motorsports reporter. Follow him at@z10nbr0wn. Get IndyStar’s motor sports coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Motor Sports newsletter. Subscribe to theYouTube channel IndyStar TV: IndyCar for a behind-the-scenes look at IndyCar and expert analysis.