The 2020 NTT IndyCar Series season is only four races old and it couldn’t have started any better for Patricio O’Ward and Arrow McLaren SP. Well, maybe just a little bit better then. Indeed, it would have been perfect if ‘Pato’ had been able to cap off his very first pole position in IndyCar racing with a very first race win.

“We were basically leading the race the whole way through, but the lapped cars didn’t help our tire situation,” O’Ward recalled on the pre-Iowa media call earlier this week. “That gave Felix an opportunity to strike. But I think we executed well. We really showed our potential and we were fighting where we want to be, where we are supposed to be.”

That there is huge potential in the Arrow McLaren SP combination was obvious from the moment it was formally announced last fall. But how soon that potential would translate into actual results was the subject of some debate. Although the team was built on the existing foundations of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, the creation of Arrow McLaren SP involved the arrival of a lot of new faces.

A new organisation chart and leadership team had to be put together, new reporting lines and responsibilities established. Fresh engineering talent came on board to help get up to speed two brand new drivers who were undeniably among the hottest talents around, but also fairly inexperienced. No one would have been surprised if the team would have taken some time to gel.

Yet at last Sunday’s Road America race, O’Ward and his Chevy-powered Arrow McLaren SP car was undoubtedly the combination to beat, while the pit crew is pretty much acing the pitstops right now. He occupies fourth in the standings now and, after a 12th position and two top-8 finishes, his podium in Wisconsin continued a clear upward trend. And Pato is far from satisfied. “We want to win races, be a contender in the championship,” he says, adding that he has a lot of faith in the team to make that happen.

“Everyone is pushing the same way as I am, with the same amount of energy and motivation,” he notes. “We have a great group of engineers and the car has felt good everywhere we’ve been. Texas was new to me so I had to be cautious; we didn’t want to have a tiny hick-up in qualifying that could put us in a bad position for the race. But going to the road courses, that I know, I’ve always known the speed was there. It was just a matter of getting everything together and execute. You make your life way easier when you start up front.”

Even more worrying for the competition is that O’Ward readily admits that he and the team are still very much in the middle of their gelling process. Nor does the Mexican youngster seem at all worried about that situation. After all, given the fact that in the past twelve months he drove IndyCar, Formula 2, Super Formula and was hired and discharged by Red Bull, his position has improved tremendously since then.

“Last year was so up and down, a huge learning year,” he says, reflecting on the rollercoaster experience that was 2019. “It makes such a difference when you know what’s coming for you. This year we have a proper schedule, proper testing, and really lots of time to be able to interact with the engineers and make that chemistry, create relationships and make them stronger every day. It makes a huge difference, especially when the weekends are so condensed.”

A determined greenhorn

As for Oliver Askew, the start to his rookie season has been considerably slower. While he performed very credibly under difficult circumstances in Texas (at the same time as fellow first-timers Rinus VeeKay and Alex Palou suffered early exits from the race) and secured a top-10 finish, the going was more difficult in Indianapolis and, especially, Road America.

At the Speedway his race ended prematurely following the first crash of his IndyCar career, even though such events are an inevitable part of any rookie season. In Road America, he struggled for speed all weekend and finished a distant 15th and 21st. Especially the second race was a survival run, his pace hampered by considerable damage picked up in the opening laps of the race.

After four races, that leaves him in 19th overall and trailing his fellow greenhorns in the Rookie of the Year standings. But the young Floridian is determined to keep chugging away. “I am looking forward to just putting Road America behind us,” Askew told his audience several times during the media call. “It was a very difficult weekend. This series is so tight, it doesn’t allow for small mistakes at any point during the weekend. But I am looking forward to Iowa. I love short ovals, we felt pretty good in Texas as well and Arrow McLaren SP has had good cars at Iowa in the past.”

Askew is aware that the Iowa weekend might very well be an even bigger challenge than the Texas scorcher. “For me this is going to be the hardest race of the year so far, because it is a double header,” he says, noting that the heat and the condensed schedule add to the challenge. “There are a lot of variables being thrown at us. But Pato and I have been training and hydrating as much as we can. I think it is going to be very difficult at the end of the stints, when the tires go away, you are mentally drained, and it’s super hot. So you need to have this voice in the back of your head, reminding you to not make any crucial mistakes. But I am looking forward to the challenge and I don’t expect to take too much time to get up to speed.”

Despite his early struggles, the smart money is on Askew to find his feet as the season progresses and the tons of ability he displayed on the Road to Indy start to shine through. And with O’Ward demonstrating the obvious competitiveness of the package, it will be only a matter of time before Askew starts to reach similar heights. It might happen already this weekend at Iowa, a track where the young American won in his last outing, during the 2017 USF2000 season.

“I think we’re in for a treat this weekend, because it’s going to be hot and it’s two races,” says O’Ward. “So the recovery after the first race is going to be key. It’s gonna be very important to be nice and fresh for Saturday. We’re getting thrown in there and you just have to survive.” Yet with Pato’s record over the first four races, just “surviving” might very well mean another podium finish for the still fledgling Arrow McLaren SP team.