“Just talks shit”: Pato O’Ward settles scores with Christian Lundgaard

– Tensions within the McLaren IndyCar team have escalated ahead of the IndyCar season finale at Laguna Seca Raceway. Patricio “Pato” O’Ward responds sharply to comments made by his departing teammate Christian Lundgaard regarding the approach to oval setups.

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The conflict intensifies after Lundgaard – driver of the McLaren #7, who despite two season wins and fighting for the runner-up championship will not continue with the team in 2027 – publicly criticized the team’s oval program ahead of the race weekend in Milwaukee. In an interview with FOX, the Dane blamed the Mexican for his own setup problems.

“Well, first of all, you need teammates who need the same thing,” said Lundgaard. “In my opinion, Scott [Dixon] and Felix [Rosenqvist] will have problems with Pato in this regard. Pato drives a completely different setup… During my time with the team, the oval performance for whatever reason only went in one direction.”

In a recent interview with ESPN Deportes, O’Ward directly counters his teammate’s claims, calling them pure smoke screens.

“In the IndyCar series, everyone is on their own little island,” explains O’Ward. “I know Christian likes to claim everything is tailored to me, and that the car only develops in the direction I demand.”

“But what he says about the oval program – that it is only aligned to my wishes – is complete nonsense. Or as they say nicely in English: ‘He is full of shit.’ That simply is not true.”

Breakthrough only in Milwaukee

O’Ward emphasizes that drivers work with different setups depending on the track: “On most tracks, we are far apart in setup. He develops his car, I develop mine. And if someone has big problems at some races, they even switch to the other’s setup and get along better with it.”

After his two wins at the double race in Milwaukee on August 30, O’Ward climbed to fourth overall in the championship with 503 points. He is just two points behind Andretti driver Kyle Kirkwood and four points behind Lundgaard in the fight for the runner-up title behind Alex Palou.

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O’Ward points out that his own fluctuating results on ovals this season – fourth place at the Indianapolis 500, 11th in St. Louis, seventh in Nashville, and the two wins in Milwaukee – contradict Lundgaard’s portrayal.

“I know a lot of people talk and claim everything is done for Pato,” he says. “But as you can see, I struggled on the ovals all year. The only races I really succeeded in were the ones in Milwaukee.”

“The rest I had difficulties. Indy was mediocre, but all the others were terrible compared to previous years. So if everything was tailored to me, I would have won the other oval races too (…) That’s all just hot air.”

Fight for runner-up title: O’Ward doesn’t want to take it personally

Although the runner-up championship would be his best career result so far, dating back to 2025, O’Ward emphasizes that his motivation at Laguna Seca is purely sporting and that he is not seeking a late revenge within the team.

“In recent years, it went almost by itself, right?” said O’Ward. “I was always the highest-placed driver on the team in the end. Christian has had a great year, but honestly, I don’t care at all whether I finish second or third.”

“If Christian finishes second and I third, I just want to finish as far up front as possible to repeat my result from last year. But ultimately, I am not targeting any particular driver.”

O’Ward adds: “I want to be runner-up because that’s the best we can achieve this weekend. I knew a very good result in Milwaukee would open up this chance for me, and that’s exactly what happened.”

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