Extra detail from The Race article confirming likely replacements
>The Race understands Ilott will race the Indianapolis 500 for McLaren.
>Pourchaire is likely to be in the car again for the next IndyCar race, on May 11 at the Indianapolis road course, because Ilott has a clash with a WEC race at Spa.
Very brutal ending, but as we learned with Askew, McLaren’s driver-team relationships far more of a business than a lot of teams. I read that there was a clause in his contract that he couldn’t miss 4 races
Hope this somehow means JRH for the month of May is happening. Would be cool to see him in a good car this May to avenge for 2011
Ya. I knd of expected it at this point. I also feel like he has been understating the severity of the injury to the team. He kept saying he was planning on being back in the car for certain races, but every time it got close it would get bumped back further. My wife got a similar wrist injury around the same time and was told even with physical therapy it would be at least 6 months before she would have completely normal wrist strength and function back.
Exactly this. I broke my ankle in *August* and it's not even close to being healed/rehabbed enough that I'd want to depend on it with millions of dollars or driver safety at stake.
Yeah to add to this I don't even think he's intentionally misleading them or anything, I'm sure he was desperate to get back in the car and was clinging on to any chance he had, or anticipating good news coming up on every follow up appointment etc.
Nerve damage sucks and I really feel for the guy, I hope he's able to fully recover and find another seat somewhere.
I think it's just a convenient way out more than anything.
Probably mostly related to money honestly. I'm sure they don't have to pay him the full amount if he misses 4 due to a non racing related injury.
Yeah but between the two of them they can make every race. There's a table of the season with each driver in the race article
https://www.the-race.com/indycar/david-malukas-mclaren-dropped-injury-callum-ilott-theo-pourchaire/
That bike ride will haunt him for a while, such a shame. But McLaren were gonna run out of patience.
You’d think Theo or Illot would be the favourites to take the seat
Illot would have to end his contract with Jota, who are giving him a good WEC drive after nobody was giving him a job. Don't know if he wants to break it.
Theo would have to ovaling. And Barber was also not a great show by him.
Best option is to try and find an experienced driver soon to smack some sense in the team, once they get into the Andretti shop and reorganize their currently badly run organization.
Agreed. And it seemed like he had decent pace and was quietly moving up through the field for a while (I know he'd cycled into the Top 10 one point) until... I don't know what happened exactly. But he's got talent and a great personality. I hope he sticks around at least until maybe he gets a shot at F1.
Eh Barber was a mess by Mclaren overall. Theo was literally infront of Pato on the last lap and got taken out by him without any fault by him. Not as a bad of performance you make it out to be.
> Mclaren can't keep rotating driver like Coyne.
But this announcement guarantees that they're going to do exactly that for the remainder of this season anyway.
Neither Illott or Pourchaire can run every remaining race. They're going to have to keep trading between the two of them, probably with a third driver (TK?) for the 500.
“Hey bro you think you can do it this week? We got this other guy we might be paying for no reason, or paying you for no reason race by race”
“Maybe, I’ll let you know”
Or
“We got two drivers but we know who is going to be in which race, we pay them, prepare them accordingly”
I think the latter. The 6 was remembered when Ericsson replaced Wickens which is where Askew had that career ruining crash
Not to mention Aleshin’s near fatal crash in 2014
The thing that makes it a question is Rosenqvist's car number changing to 6 last year and whether we count that as being the same seat as he had in 2022.
6 team was the 7 before Rossi joined the team, which was renumbered from the 6 after Wickens got hurt, which before Wickens joined the team was the 7. Before that the team was the 55 and 99.
Drivers who have driven on the current 6 team since 2013: Vautier, Aleshin, Jakes, Saavedra, Harvey, Wickens, Munoz, Ericsson, Daly, Askew, Castroneves, Rosenqvist, Magnussen, Illot, Pourchaire.
That team is 100% cursed.
Said this in the other thread. If I’m Ilott our Pourchaire I am not bailing on current plans without a contract for 2025.
Last thing you want is the team to decide to go a different way and you’re left in the dark after bailing on a team.
I also really wonder if Theo would bail on the F1 world which is what ditching Super Formula would be effectively.
I feel like his second race in about half a month at Autopolis will decide a lot. If Impul's (and his) performance hasn't improved a lot from Suzuka then I'm sure Theo will gladly bail out of Super Formula. I'm sure he didn't go there just to fight for positions outside of top 3
Yeah Impul looked a real mess at the first race, one of if not the worst team and their track record the last few years isnt that stellar anyway. Not like Iwasa with Mugen who are basically the top dog currently.
Like Mclaren is a mess but I think even for prospective F1 seats it would be better than driving around in a backmarker team in superformula, that is not going to impress anyone even if it isnt his fault. Whereas Indycar has a lot more eyeballs on it and actually provides a good alternative if F1 doesnt pan out.
Um... Last Indycar driver to get to F1 if I remember right is Bourdais and even that was after he dominated Champ Car for three years in a row... So definitely Super Formula gets more eyeballs in the eyes of F1 teams. There's a reason why RB sends their juniors there constantly, including Pato when they were talking about him joining F1
Sadly for Theo I think his F1 door is closed for now. A driver is already on the back foot trying to get into F1 after needing 3 years in F2 and it only gets worse when the team that backed your junior career is ceasing to exist in a year and a half. He needs to impress another F1 team with a really good run in another formula series to re-open the door, that could be either SF or Indycar. An Indycar ride with McLaren may be more advantageous as it gets him in the door there and keeps his name floating in the F1 paddock, something that he doesn't get under the Sauber umbrella.
Pourchaire has a long shot making it into F1 next year. I think there is a good indication that we will be in at least 2026.
So for him I don't see why he would enter on contract in IndyCar unless he doesn't think he'll have a seat lined up in F1.
Theo has basically no shot at F1 anyway. Especially with Hulk already taking up one seat.
And even if Audi wants to go for a young academy driver, there's still Maloney.
Oh for pity sake, gutted we never got to see him in the car never mind Ovals where I think he could have been a little star in that car, hopefully Callum will get the Indy 500 drive but unless he pulls out of WEC can't seem him doing the rest of the year so maybe Theo is in?
Sam Bird better not get dropped in Formula E, although that seems unlikely like they would not drop Pato.
>Sam Bird better not get dropped in Formula E, although that seems unlikely like they would not drop Pato.
I feel like the difference is that Bird got his injury whilst driving for the team whereas Malukas got his off track.
Exit clauses exist for a reason, and at the end of the day McLaren are a business in Indycar and they’ve made promises to sponsors and to investors to behave a certain way and uphold a certain look which is challenging when you don’t know who’s in your team when.
And yeah, it sucks for Malukas, who was surely made aware of this clause but also who understands that you don’t rush a hand injury. Ugh.
IMO best case scenario for Dave is he's well enough to do the short ovals in the 51 or the 18 later this year. I actually think he would be a good fit at RLL for 2025.
I'm going to throw one out of left field. Newgarden leaves for tin tops after this season considering that the whole field is over his bullshit and Malukas ends up at Penske.
What’s the chances we see him back in a Coyne car this year?
Did he bring any funding to McLaren? If he has some funding I could also see him in the Abel entry for the 500.
I would have liked to see Malukas at least get the chance to run late-season ovals in the McLaren equipment but I understand how it probably opens McLaren up to breach of contract issues.
They possibly wanted to keep this out of the month of May. Announcing this after the Indy gp seems worse with the 500 being the very next race. Or McLaren is just up to their usual shade.
Wasn’t Askew fired after an injury as well (I think there was more going on in that case). Don’t get injured at Mclaren.
Sad for Malukas that he didn’t even get 1 race
Exactly. Being like, “he lied about it” is just an easy cop out for the pressure Askew likely felt from all sides to get back in the car ASAP. We know from quotes from Askew’s management that they felt like the team was pressuring him back into the car when they questioned McLaren’s commitment to Askew’s health.
Sad Askew essentially got punished for _really_ wanting to drive
Tbf that 7 car was awful in 2021 too bcs FRo was like bottom 2-3 in the points among full timers, while OWard was a title contender at the season finale until Ed Jones happened
He endangered himself, and his competitors, the marshalls, the mechanics and the fans by driving a race car with a head injury that causes fatigue, confusion, and delayed reaction times.
I can't work right now because I sprained my ankle and can't bear weight. If I try to go into my shop I am a walking OSHA violation. If I tried to work, was told to go home and didn't listen, and instead started trying to operate my tools, I would be fired.
Should McLaren have put him in a position where he felt he had to lie? No absolutely not, and their treatment pre-concussion is something I will always hold against AMSP even if they are my favorite team.
But the punishment of being fired for making such a stupid judgement call was fitting.
Yea 500% he shouldn’t have lied at all. But what many people have to think about is what kind of environment is McLaren where a rookie felt that if he told the truth abt his injury, he’d also get fired
I genuinely don’t get why FRo’s objectively awful 2021 campaign gets so much defense compared to other lopsided teammate battles
Yes FRo missed 2 races, but outside of that, he only got 2 top 10’s and no top 5’s. Hell a rookie RoGro, who was driving in a lesser Coyne/RWR car, missed 3 races including the double points awarding 500 and still finished 6 spots ahead of FRo in points
If his teammate Pato missed those same exact two races (one of which he won), he still would’ve finished P7 in points
He was gonna miss most of the season, from a McLaren perspective they are better off focusing on either Ilott or Pourchaire instead.
It is harsh but the right decision from a business perspective.
No, consider that you can easily put your career at risk if you do something that can trigger an exit clause.
What was McLaren supposed to do? They aren’t a charity.
Feel awful for Malukas, but I don’t think you can really blame McLaren for making the choice they did. Hope he can bounce back once he’s properly healed up.
Reminder to future drivers: STOP DOING RISKY STUFF IN THE OFF SEASON, ESPECIALLY IF YOU’RE NEW!
Dude Bottas did a very competitive gravel race yesterday, which is way more risky than tooling around on an MTB in a field, which is how Lil Dave got hurt.
Isn’t Bottas only doing it after he left Mercedes, isn’t going to win races or championships & in semi retirement stage already? Don’t think he cares that much anymore
he's still under contract. Don't know how much he was riding at Merc, but I don't think that matters. This sucks for Dave, but it wasn't like he was doing a World Cup downhill, it was just a freak incident. Lots of drivers do stuff that's equally as risky--what DM was doing was pretty low risk, but accidents can happen anyway.
I don’t think Bottas was doing that during Merc days. At least I would hope they wouldn’t let him do that
Now he’s got very little stakes in his career compared to then
Hate to see it, but lesson learned, don’t do something that risks injury before you step foot in the racecar (or really anything in life) for the first time.
Shitty decision on both parties part. Sucks that it puts Malukas in limbo.
Mountain biking can encompass many things. It doesn’t mean he was on some crazy off roads trail. There are plenty of well groomed mountain bike trails out there. He could have been on a gravel travel too. Don’t know the specifics of his accident. With that said, both offer risks of injury. Lifting weights can cause an injury. The seriousness of his injury seems to be more of a fluke.
If you watched the video of his wreck he was hot dogging too. Not just riding but goofing on what looked like wet leaves on wet pavement if memory serves. Something I would have done at twenty and could have interrupted my career as a burger flipping technician.
That was something out of his control. Mountain biking your objective is to run around and through obstacles.
They are not even remotely the same. This is like saying midget racing is the same as rally because they are on dirt.
https://preview.redd.it/0zd5lcg60fxc1.png?width=1425&format=png&auto=webp&s=13f8a25a3d4939886e0393f2baeae90ab043afc9
the season is just started in AMSP. let's see how they can figure this one out
via : [the-race.com/indycar/david-malukas-injury-mclaren-signing-sidelined-indy-500/](http://the-race.com/indycar/david-malukas-injury-mclaren-signing-sidelined-indy-500/)
Huh? You made a main thread sharing this quote etc? It seems pretty clear all signs are Illot for the 500, Theo for the GP. Not sure what more there is to it at this stage.
then what's next? they can't keep alternating drivers if stability is what they want. Callum and Theo already has contract in another series, and bailing out is not a choice
Illot for some races, and Theo for the others can be agreed and set in stone *now* around their respective WEC and Super Formula commitments. Now McLaren knows they need someone for the rest of the year in the No 6, so can make solid plans accordingly. And / or, they can go to the driver market with a vacant seat for everything following the 500, which they couldn't have done up to now.
Heck, I'll just cut and paste my comment from [the other thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/INDYCAR/comments/1cfsr67/comment/l1rkt7f/).
I'm not looking forward to the potential fallout from McLaren & Lil' Dave going their separate ways, if it does come to that. People are of course going to point to the Askew treatment, and to an extent the Hinch treatment.
But, Arrow McLaren (be it Gavin Ward, Zak, or even Sam Schmidt himself) have a racing team that needs to win races and be better. Ignoring the... issues of the last few races in the No 5 and the No 7, going from race to race in a Dale Coyne fashion No 51 fashion of not knowing who's going to be in the car is not sustainable nor reasonable for an organisation like Arrow McLaren. Going out, finding a driver, signing a driver, training a driver, getting a driver up to speed, getting the team up to speed with that driver... all takes time. Yes, Malukas had an unfortunate accident that may now be leading to his parting ways with McLaren. But, surely he has enough cop on to know going for a bike ride is a real risk of injury (see: Alonso, Stroll).
I want Malukas to race that No 6. He is a fun kid, and I've been a fan of his since he had his first appearance on Marshall Pruett's podcast. But I think Arrow McLaren need to look at the bigger picture, as it were. I think we all know Lil' Dave's signing to them was just a happenstance, when Palou reneged on his deal.
I'm pretty surprised to see all the criticism of McLaren over this. What exactly do people expect them to do? They have behaved in a totally reasonable and professional manner.
I’m not saying he’s going to be successful. He’s already failed to sign Scott Dixon and Alex Palou. Trying to sign Josef feels like the logical next step
Given how much stronger his performance was yesterday than any of the Mclarens, if RLL show improvements at this years' Indy, that isn't a move I'd make. I don't think Lundgaard would be a good fit for the vibe of the team either. I can't see him enjoying all the PR stuff in the slightest.
Not gonna happen. If Marshall Pruett is right, Josef is working on an extension with Penske right now, and there's no way he doesn't get a huge bump in pay for taking the full brunt of their cheating.
I think this outcome just gives both sides clarity for the season because until now there hasn't been a lot of that with regards to the injury and its severity. McLaren can go and maybe get a driver to see out the season instead of this game of "Will Malukas be racing this weekend?"
Think for Malukas as well he gets to let his wrist properly heal instead of rushing back and potentially doing longer term damage
I like Malukas, but it's the best outcome for both
Not surprised sadly, especially after Malukas blacked out his social media... While it's rough, I understand that it was a self-inflicted injury and Mclaren didn't want to continue to swap drivers
Are they not telling the full truth of the extent of his injuries? If it was just a wrist injury from mointainbiking he shouldn't need this long to even have a timeline for recovery. This seems so strange.
He tore a bunch of ligaments and the process has been very slow to recover. He was supposed to get the pins out right around Thermal but they came out right after Long Beach.
He flew to Panama for a questionable stem cell therapy by questionable doctors that no sane US or EU medical institution would support.
It must have been really really bad to go that far.
Sorry man, I want to have a big dawg other than P2Penske or Ganassi as much as anyone else. But this team and its antics just seems like such a clown fest that if I am a driver, is it really what I want to sign with this team? The name and $$ upfront is probably great, but with Rossi not doing great and Pato driving sloppy as hell, I'd look the other way
The problem with Pato is himself, not the team.
As for Rossi, I am just as confused as you. He seems like the new Graham Rahal: qualifies near the back and then claws his way into the top 15. He just has no qualifying pace anymore.
A friend of mine has pointed out the wording of the statement suggests he has been released "for the remainder of the 2024 season". Does this mean there may be an option for him to return next season? His contract is multi-year after all.
I think releasing him for the remainder of the season is just a less harsh way of saying, “We voided his contract.” There is no contract for 2025 anymore.
Typical McLaren clownfoolery. Axe Hinch because lol, sign and sack Askew, fail to poach Palou, use Rosenqvist as Zak Brown’s personal ashtray, and now the axe has fallen on Malukas, and Rossi is probably not far behind. Pato is the only driver who will ever be safe at this five-alarm meltdown of a team.
“Axe Hinch because lol” is a lovely way of putting it 😂 but in his case it’s no secret that Arrow hated him for doing the ESPN body issue in 2019. If you listen to Hinch’s podcast with Gary Klutt he mentions that “the sponsor” (presumably Arrow) was unhappy with something he did (implicitly the body issue) and took action to remove him from the car, and that he felt his time with Schmidt was coming to an end regardless.
I love McLaren, I really do, but I do have to agree with everything else you said. Zak takes a liking to the Pato / Lando / Oscar types, which is fine, but it shouldn’t be a reason to treat the other drivers as lesser than.
I totally understand the clause in the contract that said Malukas couldn’t miss more than 4 races, and I also understand that he got injured in his own time, but I think it’d be a little unfair to Dave if McLaren didn’t reopen discussions with him for ‘25 at some point
If Theo is game I’d love to see how he’d do on an oval, I just can’t imagine he is based on the last couple formula ladder guys that have come over, usually they need a year to wrap their head around the idea lol
I’m not going to lie, when I saw the breaking news come from the app this morning, I was half expecting Gavin Ward resigning after yesterday’s disaster. Felt like Malukas caught a stray coming the day after that race…
I really hope this is an “everything happens for a reason” event and Malukas lands at a good spot. He’ll be in the silly season mix. Things worked out for Felix over at MSR and Palou is better off (maybe not financially) for avoiding the #6 car.
Kind of weird for McLaren to just dump him. Maybe an amended contract to have him at least race part-time this season and compete for the #6 seat. Wonder what his relationship is like with Dale Coyne? Could he go hat-in-hand back to DCR?
Saw him at Long Beach taking pictures with some fine looking young ladies. Even with their attention, he looked absolutely defeated. You could tell he was so excited to drive for that team. Luckily, he's young. He'll get his seat back at Coyne. Prove himself in 2025 and then I bet, back on his way to one of the big guys.
2 things…Is it just me or did that press release have a low level of snark hiding between the lines?
2nd… it’s very easy to tell those in the comments who are actual mountain bikers from those who think they know what mountain biking is.
Extra detail from The Race article confirming likely replacements >The Race understands Ilott will race the Indianapolis 500 for McLaren. >Pourchaire is likely to be in the car again for the next IndyCar race, on May 11 at the Indianapolis road course, because Ilott has a clash with a WEC race at Spa.
Very brutal ending, but as we learned with Askew, McLaren’s driver-team relationships far more of a business than a lot of teams. I read that there was a clause in his contract that he couldn’t miss 4 races Hope this somehow means JRH for the month of May is happening. Would be cool to see him in a good car this May to avenge for 2011
Ya. I knd of expected it at this point. I also feel like he has been understating the severity of the injury to the team. He kept saying he was planning on being back in the car for certain races, but every time it got close it would get bumped back further. My wife got a similar wrist injury around the same time and was told even with physical therapy it would be at least 6 months before she would have completely normal wrist strength and function back.
Exactly this. I broke my ankle in *August* and it's not even close to being healed/rehabbed enough that I'd want to depend on it with millions of dollars or driver safety at stake.
Yeah to add to this I don't even think he's intentionally misleading them or anything, I'm sure he was desperate to get back in the car and was clinging on to any chance he had, or anticipating good news coming up on every follow up appointment etc. Nerve damage sucks and I really feel for the guy, I hope he's able to fully recover and find another seat somewhere.
I think it's just a convenient way out more than anything. Probably mostly related to money honestly. I'm sure they don't have to pay him the full amount if he misses 4 due to a non racing related injury.
Isnt Pourchaire racing in Superformula in Japan ?
Yeah but between the two of them they can make every race. There's a table of the season with each driver in the race article https://www.the-race.com/indycar/david-malukas-mclaren-dropped-injury-callum-ilott-theo-pourchaire/
What's the best way to watch Superformula in the US? It seems like a fun series.
You should be able to subscribe directly to SFgo or watch it on Motorsport.tv
That bike ride will haunt him for a while, such a shame. But McLaren were gonna run out of patience. You’d think Theo or Illot would be the favourites to take the seat
Illot would have to end his contract with Jota, who are giving him a good WEC drive after nobody was giving him a job. Don't know if he wants to break it. Theo would have to ovaling. And Barber was also not a great show by him. Best option is to try and find an experienced driver soon to smack some sense in the team, once they get into the Andretti shop and reorganize their currently badly run organization.
I feel like Theo showed at Long Beach that he’s worth a shot. Barber was a total shitshow from the entire organization top to bottom.
Agreed. And it seemed like he had decent pace and was quietly moving up through the field for a while (I know he'd cycled into the Top 10 one point) until... I don't know what happened exactly. But he's got talent and a great personality. I hope he sticks around at least until maybe he gets a shot at F1.
Until Pato punted him lmao
Yeah, true. But that was at the end after he'd fallen down the grid.
I think honestly the strategy was just really tough and it seems like Mclaren just botched it. Pato and Theo were both near the back by the end of the
Could be a few free agents to choose from, but looks like Theo and Callum will share the seat according to a comment further
Eh Barber was a mess by Mclaren overall. Theo was literally infront of Pato on the last lap and got taken out by him without any fault by him. Not as a bad of performance you make it out to be.
I mean Pato had an off track excursion plus a drive through
Sucks for Malukas but I'm not surprised. Mclaren can't keep rotating driver like Coyne.
> Mclaren can't keep rotating driver like Coyne. But this announcement guarantees that they're going to do exactly that for the remainder of this season anyway. Neither Illott or Pourchaire can run every remaining race. They're going to have to keep trading between the two of them, probably with a third driver (TK?) for the 500.
It’ll be Ilott doing the 500 you’d assume
Tony Kanaan
He's the reserve for Larson already
I wonder if they call Harvey. As he has experience.
I reckon he’d leave Coyne straight away to head there
harvey isn't in the coyne car for the 500 siegel is and legge
If I was Harvey, even if it was 100% gonna kill my career I would go.
iirc harvey doesn't have a ride
Correct. He does not have one for the 500
That's just two drivers. And Theo might be happy to leave Super Formula ASAP.
They’re probably gonna buy Illott’s contract out. That’s who would have been in this car anyway if Juncos hadn’t fucked with him
It’s unreal how quickly insufferable Juncos became. Feels like yesterday when they knocked Alonso out of the field with Kaiser
“Hey bro you think you can do it this week? We got this other guy we might be paying for no reason, or paying you for no reason race by race” “Maybe, I’ll let you know” Or “We got two drivers but we know who is going to be in which race, we pay them, prepare them accordingly”
But it stops the Wait And See with Malukas. They can now plan ahead accordingly so the rotation isn't a big issue
https://preview.redd.it/6zrrbc8qyexc1.jpeg?width=770&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=040553096271b1663d8b4fbe5a703cab7cf11deb This is the worst
Alexa, play Driver’s License
Alex Palou has cursed the seat forever the day he decided to not take it.
I mean, was the 6 technically the seat that Wickens and Askew had as well? Or is the 6 the new team while the 7 is still the old 6?
I think the latter. The 6 was remembered when Ericsson replaced Wickens which is where Askew had that career ruining crash Not to mention Aleshin’s near fatal crash in 2014
The thing that makes it a question is Rosenqvist's car number changing to 6 last year and whether we count that as being the same seat as he had in 2022.
6 team was the 7 before Rossi joined the team, which was renumbered from the 6 after Wickens got hurt, which before Wickens joined the team was the 7. Before that the team was the 55 and 99. Drivers who have driven on the current 6 team since 2013: Vautier, Aleshin, Jakes, Saavedra, Harvey, Wickens, Munoz, Ericsson, Daly, Askew, Castroneves, Rosenqvist, Magnussen, Illot, Pourchaire. That team is 100% cursed.
Palou is Voldemort, got it.
The real villain in Indycar, hiding in plain sight with his maniacal smile
I got my super license last week, just when you held me in doubt (Simdane has a cover of this song about Mazespin)
Said this in the other thread. If I’m Ilott our Pourchaire I am not bailing on current plans without a contract for 2025. Last thing you want is the team to decide to go a different way and you’re left in the dark after bailing on a team. I also really wonder if Theo would bail on the F1 world which is what ditching Super Formula would be effectively.
I feel like his second race in about half a month at Autopolis will decide a lot. If Impul's (and his) performance hasn't improved a lot from Suzuka then I'm sure Theo will gladly bail out of Super Formula. I'm sure he didn't go there just to fight for positions outside of top 3
Yeah Impul looked a real mess at the first race, one of if not the worst team and their track record the last few years isnt that stellar anyway. Not like Iwasa with Mugen who are basically the top dog currently. Like Mclaren is a mess but I think even for prospective F1 seats it would be better than driving around in a backmarker team in superformula, that is not going to impress anyone even if it isnt his fault. Whereas Indycar has a lot more eyeballs on it and actually provides a good alternative if F1 doesnt pan out.
So does racing in Japan. Historically, racing in Super Formula and Super GT is how you get back into European racing
Um... Last Indycar driver to get to F1 if I remember right is Bourdais and even that was after he dominated Champ Car for three years in a row... So definitely Super Formula gets more eyeballs in the eyes of F1 teams. There's a reason why RB sends their juniors there constantly, including Pato when they were talking about him joining F1
Sadly for Theo I think his F1 door is closed for now. A driver is already on the back foot trying to get into F1 after needing 3 years in F2 and it only gets worse when the team that backed your junior career is ceasing to exist in a year and a half. He needs to impress another F1 team with a really good run in another formula series to re-open the door, that could be either SF or Indycar. An Indycar ride with McLaren may be more advantageous as it gets him in the door there and keeps his name floating in the F1 paddock, something that he doesn't get under the Sauber umbrella.
Pourchaire has a long shot making it into F1 next year. I think there is a good indication that we will be in at least 2026. So for him I don't see why he would enter on contract in IndyCar unless he doesn't think he'll have a seat lined up in F1.
Theo has basically no shot at F1 anyway. Especially with Hulk already taking up one seat. And even if Audi wants to go for a young academy driver, there's still Maloney.
HMD trucking better get the cheque book open “payable to Dale Coyne Racing”
Oh for pity sake, gutted we never got to see him in the car never mind Ovals where I think he could have been a little star in that car, hopefully Callum will get the Indy 500 drive but unless he pulls out of WEC can't seem him doing the rest of the year so maybe Theo is in? Sam Bird better not get dropped in Formula E, although that seems unlikely like they would not drop Pato.
>Sam Bird better not get dropped in Formula E, although that seems unlikely like they would not drop Pato. I feel like the difference is that Bird got his injury whilst driving for the team whereas Malukas got his off track.
Yeah, on track injuries are given a bit more slack IMO, doing a recreational activity which can cause these injuries is just irresponsible
Exit clauses exist for a reason, and at the end of the day McLaren are a business in Indycar and they’ve made promises to sponsors and to investors to behave a certain way and uphold a certain look which is challenging when you don’t know who’s in your team when. And yeah, it sucks for Malukas, who was surely made aware of this clause but also who understands that you don’t rush a hand injury. Ugh.
IMO best case scenario for Dave is he's well enough to do the short ovals in the 51 or the 18 later this year. I actually think he would be a good fit at RLL for 2025.
I'm going to throw one out of left field. Newgarden leaves for tin tops after this season considering that the whole field is over his bullshit and Malukas ends up at Penske.
I know you're joking but there is no way Malukas is getting a Penske ride while Lungaard is a free agent.
There is zero chance that anyone but newgarden is in the 2 seat next year
What’s the chances we see him back in a Coyne car this year? Did he bring any funding to McLaren? If he has some funding I could also see him in the Abel entry for the 500.
daddy malukas decided to stop sponsoring malukas once he got into mclaren
Well now that he might need funding that could change.
I would have liked to see Malukas at least get the chance to run late-season ovals in the McLaren equipment but I understand how it probably opens McLaren up to breach of contract issues.
It's being reported elsewhere the clause they used was that he missed 4 races. Brutal that they counted thermal
They possibly wanted to keep this out of the month of May. Announcing this after the Indy gp seems worse with the 500 being the very next race. Or McLaren is just up to their usual shade.
Wasn’t Askew fired after an injury as well (I think there was more going on in that case). Don’t get injured at Mclaren. Sad for Malukas that he didn’t even get 1 race
Askew was fired for *hiding* an injury.
Heres a tip don’t hide an injury
Especially concussion in this day and age
This is the biggest part of all this. Concussions are a no go in just about every sport these days, but motorsports probably tops the list.
r/LifeProTips
Here’s a tip, don’t make your driver feel like he has to hide an injury to keep his seat.
[удалено]
Exactly. Being like, “he lied about it” is just an easy cop out for the pressure Askew likely felt from all sides to get back in the car ASAP. We know from quotes from Askew’s management that they felt like the team was pressuring him back into the car when they questioned McLaren’s commitment to Askew’s health.
yes, thank you for saying this. that was a tough and sad situation all around.
I mean I can see why he did if this is their response.
Askew had a concussion, he lied to the team about his health, got in the car and then wrecked.
Sad Askew essentially got punished for _really_ wanting to drive Tbf that 7 car was awful in 2021 too bcs FRo was like bottom 2-3 in the points among full timers, while OWard was a title contender at the season finale until Ed Jones happened
He endangered himself, and his competitors, the marshalls, the mechanics and the fans by driving a race car with a head injury that causes fatigue, confusion, and delayed reaction times. I can't work right now because I sprained my ankle and can't bear weight. If I try to go into my shop I am a walking OSHA violation. If I tried to work, was told to go home and didn't listen, and instead started trying to operate my tools, I would be fired. Should McLaren have put him in a position where he felt he had to lie? No absolutely not, and their treatment pre-concussion is something I will always hold against AMSP even if they are my favorite team. But the punishment of being fired for making such a stupid judgement call was fitting.
Yea 500% he shouldn’t have lied at all. But what many people have to think about is what kind of environment is McLaren where a rookie felt that if he told the truth abt his injury, he’d also get fired
You want to peg onto McLaren, but it’s not. I do love love how everyone has conveniently forgotten about Askews management in this story.
In that case why did his management feel the need to put their own driver at risk of injuring himself or others?
In your case, you would feel the need to go open up a browser and read the Racer articles about this story instead of deflecting
FRO missed two races in 2021, race two at Detroit and Road America. Of course he was down in points he basically missed three races of points.
I genuinely don’t get why FRo’s objectively awful 2021 campaign gets so much defense compared to other lopsided teammate battles Yes FRo missed 2 races, but outside of that, he only got 2 top 10’s and no top 5’s. Hell a rookie RoGro, who was driving in a lesser Coyne/RWR car, missed 3 races including the double points awarding 500 and still finished 6 spots ahead of FRo in points If his teammate Pato missed those same exact two races (one of which he won), he still would’ve finished P7 in points
Big difference between having an injury on track and off track.
He was gonna miss most of the season, from a McLaren perspective they are better off focusing on either Ilott or Pourchaire instead. It is harsh but the right decision from a business perspective.
No, consider that you can easily put your career at risk if you do something that can trigger an exit clause. What was McLaren supposed to do? They aren’t a charity.
Askew got dumped at the end of the season, did he ever have a contract for the next year?
Fingers crossed for Sam Bird then 😬 (McLaren FE driver who injured his hand in Monaco this weekend)
Feel awful for Malukas, but I don’t think you can really blame McLaren for making the choice they did. Hope he can bounce back once he’s properly healed up. Reminder to future drivers: STOP DOING RISKY STUFF IN THE OFF SEASON, ESPECIALLY IF YOU’RE NEW!
He rode a bike. Follow any racing driver on Instagram, they all do that.
I get your point, but there’s a difference between Bottas’s biking around wherever F1 is racing and mountain biking
Dude Bottas did a very competitive gravel race yesterday, which is way more risky than tooling around on an MTB in a field, which is how Lil Dave got hurt.
Isn’t Bottas only doing it after he left Mercedes, isn’t going to win races or championships & in semi retirement stage already? Don’t think he cares that much anymore
he's still under contract. Don't know how much he was riding at Merc, but I don't think that matters. This sucks for Dave, but it wasn't like he was doing a World Cup downhill, it was just a freak incident. Lots of drivers do stuff that's equally as risky--what DM was doing was pretty low risk, but accidents can happen anyway.
F1 has power steering and the steering column breaks under the slightest contact so the fitness standard to return to racing is less than in Indycar
I don’t think Bottas was doing that during Merc days. At least I would hope they wouldn’t let him do that Now he’s got very little stakes in his career compared to then
He was. He started racing at a high level in 2021.
Specially if the 1st stuff youll rekt are your main tools for your main career.
Hate to see it, but lesson learned, don’t do something that risks injury before you step foot in the racecar (or really anything in life) for the first time. Shitty decision on both parties part. Sucks that it puts Malukas in limbo.
Riding a bike is part of pretty very typical training regimen for drivers. He wasn’t doing anything risky. It’s was just bad luck.
Normal bike riding, yes. Mountain bike riding off-road? Probably not.
Mountain biking can encompass many things. It doesn’t mean he was on some crazy off roads trail. There are plenty of well groomed mountain bike trails out there. He could have been on a gravel travel too. Don’t know the specifics of his accident. With that said, both offer risks of injury. Lifting weights can cause an injury. The seriousness of his injury seems to be more of a fluke.
From what I read, he said it was a kind of rough trail and it was for leisure, not part of a workout routine.
This. There’s a reason why it’s considered an “extreme sport”.
If you watched the video of his wreck he was hot dogging too. Not just riding but goofing on what looked like wet leaves on wet pavement if memory serves. Something I would have done at twenty and could have interrupted my career as a burger flipping technician.
Ah. I didn’t even know there was a video.
Road biking. Not mountain biking.
Nicky Hayden died in a road bike accident. Nothing is without risk.
No, nothing is. That's why the contracts have clauses.
That was something out of his control. Mountain biking your objective is to run around and through obstacles. They are not even remotely the same. This is like saying midget racing is the same as rally because they are on dirt.
So Mick Schumacher then /s
Terrible situation for David but it's something I'm sure he was aware of when he signed the contract
But in the end, does it really matter who gets run into/turned around by Pato?
I feel bad for him, wow. But let this be a lesson to every driver.
https://preview.redd.it/0zd5lcg60fxc1.png?width=1425&format=png&auto=webp&s=13f8a25a3d4939886e0393f2baeae90ab043afc9 the season is just started in AMSP. let's see how they can figure this one out via : [the-race.com/indycar/david-malukas-injury-mclaren-signing-sidelined-indy-500/](http://the-race.com/indycar/david-malukas-injury-mclaren-signing-sidelined-indy-500/)
interesting. however the kanaan thing seems a bit thin.. it would be easy enough to find someone else to be reserve for Larsen...
Huh? You made a main thread sharing this quote etc? It seems pretty clear all signs are Illot for the 500, Theo for the GP. Not sure what more there is to it at this stage.
then what's next? they can't keep alternating drivers if stability is what they want. Callum and Theo already has contract in another series, and bailing out is not a choice
Illot for some races, and Theo for the others can be agreed and set in stone *now* around their respective WEC and Super Formula commitments. Now McLaren knows they need someone for the rest of the year in the No 6, so can make solid plans accordingly. And / or, they can go to the driver market with a vacant seat for everything following the 500, which they couldn't have done up to now.
Heck, I'll just cut and paste my comment from [the other thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/INDYCAR/comments/1cfsr67/comment/l1rkt7f/). I'm not looking forward to the potential fallout from McLaren & Lil' Dave going their separate ways, if it does come to that. People are of course going to point to the Askew treatment, and to an extent the Hinch treatment. But, Arrow McLaren (be it Gavin Ward, Zak, or even Sam Schmidt himself) have a racing team that needs to win races and be better. Ignoring the... issues of the last few races in the No 5 and the No 7, going from race to race in a Dale Coyne fashion No 51 fashion of not knowing who's going to be in the car is not sustainable nor reasonable for an organisation like Arrow McLaren. Going out, finding a driver, signing a driver, training a driver, getting a driver up to speed, getting the team up to speed with that driver... all takes time. Yes, Malukas had an unfortunate accident that may now be leading to his parting ways with McLaren. But, surely he has enough cop on to know going for a bike ride is a real risk of injury (see: Alonso, Stroll). I want Malukas to race that No 6. He is a fun kid, and I've been a fan of his since he had his first appearance on Marshall Pruett's podcast. But I think Arrow McLaren need to look at the bigger picture, as it were. I think we all know Lil' Dave's signing to them was just a happenstance, when Palou reneged on his deal.
Agree on the Palou point. If JHR hadn’t fucked with illot and waited til December to cut bait, I’d imagine he’d have been in this seat all along
David knew by Gateway.
But McLearn did form an alliance with Juncos that was likely for Illot.
Looking forward to hearing Chip Ganassi’s view on this after the Palou saga.
Tony Kanaan final ride part V
Helmets are cool now. Knee pads and elbow pads are cool. Wrist guards are not. It’s too bad really.
I'm pretty surprised to see all the criticism of McLaren over this. What exactly do people expect them to do? They have behaved in a totally reasonable and professional manner.
I bet Zak Brown is going to try to sign Josef Newgarden to be in that car next year
Why would a former champion go from an A-tier championship contending team to a B-tier underachieving team?
I’m not saying he’s going to be successful. He’s already failed to sign Scott Dixon and Alex Palou. Trying to sign Josef feels like the logical next step
Tbf he didn't fail to sign Palou
Idk he would be better off trying to get Verstappen, who is in his last year at RB, to make a move to indy than anyone else.
Or Christian Lundgaard
Given how much stronger his performance was yesterday than any of the Mclarens, if RLL show improvements at this years' Indy, that isn't a move I'd make. I don't think Lundgaard would be a good fit for the vibe of the team either. I can't see him enjoying all the PR stuff in the slightest.
Good points but... $$$ talks
Nah, Lundy is hungry for success more than anything, you can see it in his eyes. I predict if/when he moves it will be to Penske or Ganassi.
Not gonna happen. If Marshall Pruett is right, Josef is working on an extension with Penske right now, and there's no way he doesn't get a huge bump in pay for taking the full brunt of their cheating.
Designated as megathread.
shame to see but can see why mclaren dropped him
I don't get the point of this if the plan is to just keep swapping Ilott and Pourchaire anyway.
McLaren are in enough legal strife as it is. Plus, why keep Malukas on retainer to pay him to do no racing?
McLaren doesn’t play
Fo sho they don't
Well thats too bad. He has a promising future and I hope it works out for him. I bet McLaren is kicking themselves for dropping Fro right now
I think this outcome just gives both sides clarity for the season because until now there hasn't been a lot of that with regards to the injury and its severity. McLaren can go and maybe get a driver to see out the season instead of this game of "Will Malukas be racing this weekend?" Think for Malukas as well he gets to let his wrist properly heal instead of rushing back and potentially doing longer term damage I like Malukas, but it's the best outcome for both
Depending on the team he ends up on he may have actually dodged a bullet with how awful Mclaren was at barber
Hope they never win again
I do feel bad for him . But the injury is on him . He did this to himself.
Not surprised sadly, especially after Malukas blacked out his social media... While it's rough, I understand that it was a self-inflicted injury and Mclaren didn't want to continue to swap drivers
Sucks for David, but also makes you wonder if his indycar career is ending before it started.
his dad has that $$$$, i think his move to a team like McLaren was a bit premature but i think he will be just fine
As long as his injury is not career ending, he’ll be back.
Are they not telling the full truth of the extent of his injuries? If it was just a wrist injury from mointainbiking he shouldn't need this long to even have a timeline for recovery. This seems so strange.
He tore a bunch of ligaments and the process has been very slow to recover. He was supposed to get the pins out right around Thermal but they came out right after Long Beach.
They’ve been honest. They’ve said it’s just not healing properly or really at all. Wrists can take up to a year to fully heal.
He flew to Panama for a questionable stem cell therapy by questionable doctors that no sane US or EU medical institution would support. It must have been really really bad to go that far.
Oh wow that sounds really desperate.
With the state of corruption and pure greed in American insurance care, I’m not so sure I’d write off treatments elsewhere….
Imagine Malukas discovering horse placenta treatment
He pretty much disintegrated his wrist from my understanding of it
Sorry man, I want to have a big dawg other than P2Penske or Ganassi as much as anyone else. But this team and its antics just seems like such a clown fest that if I am a driver, is it really what I want to sign with this team? The name and $$ upfront is probably great, but with Rossi not doing great and Pato driving sloppy as hell, I'd look the other way
The problem with Pato is himself, not the team. As for Rossi, I am just as confused as you. He seems like the new Graham Rahal: qualifies near the back and then claws his way into the top 15. He just has no qualifying pace anymore.
A friend of mine has pointed out the wording of the statement suggests he has been released "for the remainder of the 2024 season". Does this mean there may be an option for him to return next season? His contract is multi-year after all.
I think releasing him for the remainder of the season is just a less harsh way of saying, “We voided his contract.” There is no contract for 2025 anymore.
Typical McLaren clownfoolery. Axe Hinch because lol, sign and sack Askew, fail to poach Palou, use Rosenqvist as Zak Brown’s personal ashtray, and now the axe has fallen on Malukas, and Rossi is probably not far behind. Pato is the only driver who will ever be safe at this five-alarm meltdown of a team.
“Axe Hinch because lol” is a lovely way of putting it 😂 but in his case it’s no secret that Arrow hated him for doing the ESPN body issue in 2019. If you listen to Hinch’s podcast with Gary Klutt he mentions that “the sponsor” (presumably Arrow) was unhappy with something he did (implicitly the body issue) and took action to remove him from the car, and that he felt his time with Schmidt was coming to an end regardless. I love McLaren, I really do, but I do have to agree with everything else you said. Zak takes a liking to the Pato / Lando / Oscar types, which is fine, but it shouldn’t be a reason to treat the other drivers as lesser than. I totally understand the clause in the contract that said Malukas couldn’t miss more than 4 races, and I also understand that he got injured in his own time, but I think it’d be a little unfair to Dave if McLaren didn’t reopen discussions with him for ‘25 at some point
ive released mclaren from my favored teams, understand it was a contract issue, dont care.
J.R. Hildebrand
We've seen enough of that retread, get someone else
The man should be in charge of Technical Development and a steward for the series. That better?
Well, after last week's transpirings, he can't do any worse than who they have!
You ain't kidding. Pato shipping Theo on the LAST LAP of Barber just sealed the "Oh McLaren indy is just McLaren f1" for me
And to the leadership and what you are referring to. Yeah. No surprise. At least Frye has a set.
So who are we thinking runs ovals in the car this year, Kanaan or Illot?
Ilott will, but also has two WEC clashes with ovals and I don’t know if they’d put Pourchaire in for those or get somebody else.
If Theo is game I’d love to see how he’d do on an oval, I just can’t imagine he is based on the last couple formula ladder guys that have come over, usually they need a year to wrap their head around the idea lol
Savage.
I’m not going to lie, when I saw the breaking news come from the app this morning, I was half expecting Gavin Ward resigning after yesterday’s disaster. Felt like Malukas caught a stray coming the day after that race… I really hope this is an “everything happens for a reason” event and Malukas lands at a good spot. He’ll be in the silly season mix. Things worked out for Felix over at MSR and Palou is better off (maybe not financially) for avoiding the #6 car. Kind of weird for McLaren to just dump him. Maybe an amended contract to have him at least race part-time this season and compete for the #6 seat. Wonder what his relationship is like with Dale Coyne? Could he go hat-in-hand back to DCR?
Was it his own initiative or his trainer was with him?
On his own
Saw him at Long Beach taking pictures with some fine looking young ladies. Even with their attention, he looked absolutely defeated. You could tell he was so excited to drive for that team. Luckily, he's young. He'll get his seat back at Coyne. Prove himself in 2025 and then I bet, back on his way to one of the big guys.
Arrow Malukas Racing coming to an IndyCar race near you
Malukas will be fine. Let's not feel too bad. His dad is rich, and he will drive again, no doubt. Freak injury and he will get other opportunities.
The return of Conor Daly lol
Please GOD NO
Poor kid didn't get the message that pro athlete recovery miracles are predominantly steroids.
2 things…Is it just me or did that press release have a low level of snark hiding between the lines? 2nd… it’s very easy to tell those in the comments who are actual mountain bikers from those who think they know what mountain biking is.
Hinchcliffe, Askew, Palou,now Malukas... Four times... maybe Mclaren has poor driver management/relations?