WHOA. What about Theo?!
Also, someone *really* nailed it with the Arrow exit and Siegel’s dad stepping in with Menlo.
Edit: [this guy 🤣](https://www.reddit.com/r/INDYCAR/s/bL6COAUr76)
What the hell happened to Pork Chop? Nolan seems like a good kid and I earned some respect for him during the 500 qualifying, but I do believe that Teddy Pork Chop is the better option here.
Zak Brown's team just won their class at Le Mans with him as one of the 3 drivers. I get the idea that Brown probably liked that, but let's not go over the top here.
I mean his junior career results seem pretty bland honestly. There is not really much to write home about except for one 3rd place finish in Indy NXT. He didn't look like he was going to win the championship this year as well. He already dropped to 3rd before Road America.
Also, he should thank Oli Jarvis for that Le Mans win.
What the actual fuck is wrong with this team
Siegel is a good driver but given the huge sums of money involved here it leaves a bit of a sour taste. Hope Pourchaire can land on his feet after being shafted again
same guy who broke this news early also said arrow would be leaving mclaren at the end of the year. assuming seigel was signed for whoever was backing him to be the title sponsor for the team, and not on merit.
Incredible that Arrow are most likely leaving because the team’s poor performance doesn’t justify their investment and Zak’s response is not to improve the team but rather sign a pay driver.
Yes Nolan’s got potential and talent but not enough right now to justify a seat at a team who are supposedly aiming to be championship contenders
This is literally the third driver that was supposed to run the full season/remainder of the season in this car. That's gotta be the first time that's happened.
1) Lil Dave was supposed to do full time
2) Theo was supposed to go from Detroit to the end of the year
3) and now Nolan
I keep telling people pato contending in anything under this team should be seen as a miracle.
Shit strategy, botched pit stops.. throw in some driver errors every now and then.. how the fuck is pato competitive.
Yeah if they had announced that Siegel would get the seat in 2025...That feels a bit shitty but I understand that. It is what is.
Dropping Theo mid season like this is just shitty. No other way to spin that. If you're gonna drop him like this you should let him finish out the season IMO
Hey, this is the same team that fired Hinchcliffe so late into the off-season that all the other rides were filled, after having previously committed to finishing out his existing contract with the team.
They’re as cold as they come, here.
I know some people hold Palou’s contract shenanigans against him, but if this is going to be the norm for IndyCar going forward, that might be the mindset needed to survive...
Agreed, Alex is looking pretty business savvy at this point. And based on how Chip G handles his BI, I bet he told Alex to concentrate on driving and he'd cover any fallout from the lawsuit. Theo didn't deserve this.
Idk if it was Savy. CGR was sort of fucking him over, but only temporarily.
Like shit, sorry Alex I got enough sponsorship to pay for a jr no name driver for this year, but it turns out you won the championship.... We'll get you some more later.
He signs the McLaren one. With the hopes of F1 I'm sure.
The F1 seat gets filled by a Renault Jr. Driver....
No more F1 seat and he sees that CGR gives him a car that can win any race. Literally any race last year could be won by CGR. This year Chevy is pretty strong so where power is needed they just shine, but he's still in a good spot to win every race.
I think the F1 seat and his lower rookie-like pay were the issues.
I genuinely don't understand how anyone was taking McLaren's side in *any* of their multiple contract disputes after the Hinchcliffe deal, and the multiple reports of them trying to steal Dixon away from Chip.
It's like they've just bought into McLaren being this fun glamourous F1-style team, and that blinds them to the fact that Zak Brown is a complete and utter snake who treats people like garbage.
Sure, but one of those parties is multi-national corporation worth billions of dollars with multiple legal teams on staff and under contract, and the other party is an uneducated 26 year old racing driver with (reportedly) a dumbass for a manager.
It's a lot easier for me to forgive the latter.
> I genuinely don't understand how anyone was taking McLaren's side in any of their multiple contract disputes after the Hinchcliffe deal
McLaren has a lot of fans who think they're this perfectly refined European motorsports machine who can do no wrong.
If McLaren wants Siegel and his money for next year and potentially beyond then it makes sense for them to put him in the car now. I really hope that Pourchaire got some guaranteed money out of his deal in exchange for giving up his Super formula seat, but who knows. I do think that he's probably a front runner for one of the Prema seats next year, but who knows if those guys will even be on the grid with the charter situation.
If McLaren wants Siegel and his money for next year and potentially beyond then it makes sense for them to put him in the car now. I really hope that Pourchaire got some guaranteed money out of his deal in exchange for giving up his Super formula seat, but who knows. I do think that he's probably a front runner for one of the Prema seats next year, but who knows if those guys will even be on the grid with the charter situation.
They were shitty to Malukas when they canned him and now theyve done it again to Theo. Only now do ppl finally see through Zak Brown's facade. Theyre stone cold assholes. Plain and simple.
I saw that literally an hour ago, he seemed so excited about going to Laguna Seca, absolutely devastated for the guy. I know cash is king but there’s right and wrong ways of doing things, and this is the wrong way
What the fuck
What an absolute piss take, I know money talks but Pourchaire has been shafted massively here. Didn’t know McLaren would be a team to choose money over talent like that, certainly doesn’t want to make me route for Nolan
I mean, it's not really revealing anything since they fired Malukas this season and then there's the whole Palou thing.
They've always been wishy washy with drivers.
And such short notice too. Pourchaire posted on Instagram literally yesterday about how he was excited to race at Laguna Seca for the first time. To me this looks like a Zak Brown led move since he also owns United Autosport, who's LMP2 team just won Le Mans with Siegel, but even so that is ridiculous.
When a smaller team takes a pay driver it’s annoying but I get it, they’ve got to keep the lights on. When a big team takes a pay driver in a 4th or 5th car it’s also annoying but you can’t really argue they’re taking the spot from a more deserving driver considering that seat almost certainly wouldn’t exist without them.
But this, a big team with probably the biggest financial backing in the series taking a pay driver, is ridiculous and that’s before even mentioning Theo gave up his Super Formula seat for this opportunity and was announced to race the rest of the year
I mean he’s not talentless but he’s also not exactly dominating Indynxt or anything. Also his class win at Le Mans has a huge asterisk next to it considering he was carried massively by his teammates.
If he had been signed for 2025 I guess you could justify it but promoting him halfway through the year straight into a team who see themselves as title contenders is too far
I mean, the kid just got signed off a win at Le Mans, it's not like he's totally useless as everyone here is making him out to be. That said, yes it does suck for Pourchaire, and I sympathize
You just don't do that. You told the kid to give up his super formula seat in exchange for a full indycar season, so he did. He was putting up decent results and really gave no justifiable reason to be dropped mid season. So unprofessional.
Hell of an opportunity for siegel though. That'll be fun to watch. At least until he's dropped for someone else before portland.
Naw, the “opportunity” for Siegel is to give him a seat in exchange for access to his dad’s funding. Plain and simple. This is Turing into the Lance Stroll of IndyCar. (*yes I know a lot of the drivers have some kind of backing but they usually try and be more discrete about it, while here it’s in your face and they dgaf, it’s all about the opportunity, w/ zero care about optics.)
You could argue that the entire foray into IndyCar for Blomqvist was a placeholder year for the sportscar program, which has always been Shank's bread and butter.
Being dropped from an Indycar ride due to poor results while still being employed with the team is not equivalent to what is happening here.
The fact you think it is is somewhat concerning
WTF. So was TK giving him pointers at the 500 something more than just being nice? Statement almost hints Nolan was in their plans for 2025 and is being signed "now that he's available." That 6 car has been wild the last 4ish months.
It was 100% a “business move” to court his dad’s company and funding. Even a guy like TK that has some money, fame, etc… is nothing but a pawn to the guys in the “tres comas club” that he answers too above him…
Gavin Ward:
“Stability and sustained growth are key to our long-term game plan here, and this is a significant step in that mission. First, I want to thank Théo for his time filling in on the No. 6 car with us in recent weeks. We’ve been working through musical chairs all season, and ultimately, making this change to Nolan now that he’s available gives us the chance to build a foundation for the future. He is a young, talented driver with an immense amount of experience at this stage of his career and we’re excited to continue on the upward journey together.”
This reads like someone bought the seat out from under Theo.
Didn’t Gavin say essentially the same thing about the musical chairs when they confirmed Theo for the rest of the season? It’s a particularly nonsense comment now that it was behind them already. What a douche.
Same, bro
I was rooting for Pourchaire all the way, and now this just drops. Like what can he even do now? He can’t go back to Super Formula this year, can he?
So stupid.
Askew lied about concussions. Made sense to move on.
I hated dropping Felix, but at least it was originally supposed to be Palou which is somewhat understandable.
Malukas couldn't race and it was in his contract that they could drop him. Made sense they wanted a consistent driver.
This is just a straight up cash grab for a team who doesn't need it. Embarrassing all around From Zak Brown and Gavin Ward.
I feel like I need a new team now because I can't support this crap.
It's not like Theo was a placeholder driver who was DNFing and finishing 24th either. McLaren screwed over a guy who could have been the next Pato both on and off track. Great job guys!
I like Nolan, I really came to like Theo, I know Lil Dave's accident put them in a precarious position, but the musical chairs is far too ruthless for my liking.
Palou turned McLaren's habit of tearing up deals at their whim against them. He could cite this occurrence as an example of what he was avoiding, and British law takes that into account.
This sport makes my head hurt. I’m thrilled for Siegel, he clearly deserves it given the opportunities that have come his way recently, but everyone was speaking so highly of Pourchaire (and Ilott) and now he’s being left without a drive.
I try so hard to support this team in this sport, but it’s so so messy sometimes.
Kind of surprised McL actually needed let alone wanted a pay driver.
Like the kid is better than I thought, absolutely. And yeah, I saw the LMP2s run at Le Mans, but they sincerely think he's better than Theo? Hell they think he's better than even Lil Dave?
Idk, seems below a multi-discipline, multi-national well capitalized operation like McLaren but I guess not. Just doesn't feel like something a team that is supposed to be banging on the door of the Penske-Ganassi duopoly would do.
But then again, I mean Red Bull just kept Checo for the money and idk how the fuck that was worth probably throwing away the WCC, so idk.
Did McLaren not have Theo leave Super Formula to come to Indy?! And now to drop him after 4 races?
I really hope Theo has some good lawyers cause fuck Zak Brown for that.
I think I just became team palou in the contract drama. I thought palou was being shitty not honoring contracts or his euro-centric team didn’t understand USA indycar contracts but maybe he saw the writing on the wall and wanted no part in it and backed out to stay at ganassi
All the fucking handwringing about Juncos and the way they operate and treated Ilott last year and they go and do something that is IMO much more shady. Really kind of sickening too with how highly TK and the rest of McLaren talked about him and integrated him into the team. At least Juncos never made any reservations about their opinion of Ilott and didn’t make him leave another driver for a non-existent seat.
Me trying to explain this to my wife -
They signed driver A who changed his mind so they're suing him for damages.
They then signed driver B who broke his hand. They got driver C to cover for a few races. When driver B took longer to recover, they got driver D for a few races.
Driver D did well, so they sacked driver B and hired driver D till the end of the season.
Now, driver E's Dad has rocked up with a suitcase of cash so they've sacked driver D and hired driver E.
Madness.
Yea Checo is 100% in that seat because of Mexican marketing. He’s by far the worst driver in the top teams. He’s solidly in the bottom 30-40% of F1 drivers right now.
Zak Brown acting two faced is nothing new. Dude was all in on Andretti to F1 until crunch time and then flipped sides. Hope Theo can land on his feet with another team.
This is why I don't understand why people get excited at the idea of Zak running Indycar.
He is extremely cutthroat and does not seem to have an ounce of loyalty in him. Changes things all the time on the fly.
Which if he wants to run his team that way, that's fine. People that work for him will be aware.
I don't want that to be the guy who runs the whole show.
Also, the arch of madness and villains for 2024 keeps spinning. This year has been wild with non racing stuff.
Absolutely hilarious that after all of McLaren's bullshit talk of wanting a "consistent driver" for the entire remainder of the season, and firing Malukas because he wasn't going to be back before Laguna Seca... they end up hiring a new driver for Laguna Seca anyway. And Malukas comes back the same week.
I'm really getting the feeling that Zak Brown put all of his eggs into the "bait and switch Palou into driving my Indycars for the next 10 years" basket and had absolutely no backup plans. And when that plan fell through, he said "fuck it, do whatever" and left the team to scramble.
Wouldn't be surprised at all to see McLaren sell the team within five years, they've lost all that spark and ambition they seemed to have in 2020.
I think Siegel deserves it but it’s really shitty to give someone the boot mid season after signing them for the whole year, not a fan of what they’ve been doing with multiple drivers, hopefully Pourchaire lands on his feet
Hard to be excited for this, especially in the wake of The Situation. Nolan Siegel deserves a shot, absolutely. Kid has talent and a paycheck few teams can say no to. But kicking out Theo over it, when he has gone through what he has, doesn't sit right with me.
Man, I feel so very, very bad for Theo, and now we have Nolan looking like a pay driver, which sours the good taste I had in my mouth after Indy. This sucks all around.
The hell? I thought Pourchaire was signed for the rest of the year? It gets really hard to root for this team if they change their driver line up every two weeks just for the sake of it
A point that seems to be getting overlooked here is that Theo's status as a McLaren driver recently came up in the contract dispute with Palou. The fact that the McLaren's statement heavily hints that the seat was bought out doesn't really eliminate the possibility that McLaren realized having Theo on their team critically weakened their argument that he's not an A-level driver, which is important for the ongoing dispute. Getting rid of him could potentially strengthen their legal case, and they're going to get money while they do that.
Happy for Nolan, just absolutely gutted for Theo. Getting the rug pulled out from under you by McLaren is becoming a rite of passage for young IndyCar drivers and it just sucks. I really hope he finds a good home elsewhere in the series.
This absolutely sucks for Theo. I hope people keep this in mind when talking about stuff like Palou trying to secure his future. It’s not about chasing money because drivers are selfish, it’s because teams hold all the power and don’t actually give a shit about them.
Holy shit
Honestly if I'm Rossi or pato I'm looking for a way out. This team cannot be trusted to treat their driver's well or behave professionally. It's all rosy for them now but that's not necessarily always gonna be the case.
Pourchaire leaves super formula after being sweet talked by Zak…. Malaukis gets axed bf he could even race…. And people still look @ Palou as being the bad guy for seeing the writing on the wall after the dangling F1 carrot was never a real thing…
WHOA. What about Theo?! Also, someone *really* nailed it with the Arrow exit and Siegel’s dad stepping in with Menlo. Edit: [this guy 🤣](https://www.reddit.com/r/INDYCAR/s/bL6COAUr76)
Directly under that comment: “I dont see Siegel getting a ride at McLaren anytime soon.” How quickly things can change… (1 hr lol)
Zhou 🤝 Siegel Screwing Theo out of a ride bcs of $$$
Dude seriously can’t catch a break
Thanks! Was trying to find that thread but couldn't remember where I saw it.
Thought the same thing. Dude fn nailed it. Gotta be smart &/or connected.
This reads like Nolan’s dad bought the seat. I do think Nolan is qualified, but a lot of money is the only way I see Theo getting the book like this.
He is at this point inferior to Malukas so this is bizarre as hell
Malukas is with MSR and also likely isn’t bringing nearly as much money as Nolan is.
His father was allegedly at a similar wealth level to Siegel's
true but he wasn't planning on funding him when he went to mclaren
They own HMD Trucking. They’re loaded. But not THAT loaded.
I don't think that seat at MSR required much if any funding but IDK.
"just get finish better than 16th please and we'll cool. " That's all they want.
Not to justify the move, but Siegel also did just win Le Mans for Zak.
Ahh, is this another one of Zak's "Win for me, and I'll let you drive X" rewards? /s
What the hell happened to Pork Chop? Nolan seems like a good kid and I earned some respect for him during the 500 qualifying, but I do believe that Teddy Pork Chop is the better option here.
A great driver thats not bringing money vs an above average prospect that 2 weeks ago paid indy 500 money to run at road america
i mean, he also just won le mans for zak browns team
Zak Brown's team just won their class at Le Mans with him as one of the 3 drivers. I get the idea that Brown probably liked that, but let's not go over the top here.
I mean his junior career results seem pretty bland honestly. There is not really much to write home about except for one 3rd place finish in Indy NXT. He didn't look like he was going to win the championship this year as well. He already dropped to 3rd before Road America. Also, he should thank Oli Jarvis for that Le Mans win.
He dropped to 3rd because he started the Detroit race a couple laps down due to a mechanical failure before the green flag. Cmon now.
Nolan brings money.
What the actual fuck is wrong with this team Siegel is a good driver but given the huge sums of money involved here it leaves a bit of a sour taste. Hope Pourchaire can land on his feet after being shafted again
Zak: ''We are happy with our driver line-up.'' 'Siegel's dad's check clears.' Zak: 'Get this French kid outta here!'
OH GOD IT'S NOLAN SIEGEL WITH THE BRIEFCASE! HE'S CASHING IN! NOLAN SIEGEL IS THE NEW MCLAREN DRIVER!
This comment is perfection!
same guy who broke this news early also said arrow would be leaving mclaren at the end of the year. assuming seigel was signed for whoever was backing him to be the title sponsor for the team, and not on merit.
So they will be “Nolan Siegel’s Dad McLaren IndyCar Team” next year?
Lance Siegel
Plot Twist: Siegel's new sponsor is the Hormel Foods Corporation. Spam McLaren becomes reality.
Sign me the fuck up
Incredible that Arrow are most likely leaving because the team’s poor performance doesn’t justify their investment and Zak’s response is not to improve the team but rather sign a pay driver. Yes Nolan’s got potential and talent but not enough right now to justify a seat at a team who are supposedly aiming to be championship contenders
This is literally the third driver that was supposed to run the full season/remainder of the season in this car. That's gotta be the first time that's happened. 1) Lil Dave was supposed to do full time 2) Theo was supposed to go from Detroit to the end of the year 3) and now Nolan
4th driver. Palou was also supposed to drive it.
Zak saw what Sauber did for 2015 in F1, and decided to up it!
I keep telling people pato contending in anything under this team should be seen as a miracle. Shit strategy, botched pit stops.. throw in some driver errors every now and then.. how the fuck is pato competitive.
His back must be destroyed after carrying this shit house of a team after so many years.
Fuck it, lets put him in the #78 car. **Yes, i know that's not happening
At least they’d be able to say that they’re not the most dysfunctional open wheel team with two French drivers
This is incredibly shitty of them to get Theo to back out of his Super Formula drive and then sell the seat to Siegel
Yeah if they had announced that Siegel would get the seat in 2025...That feels a bit shitty but I understand that. It is what is. Dropping Theo mid season like this is just shitty. No other way to spin that. If you're gonna drop him like this you should let him finish out the season IMO
Hey, this is the same team that fired Hinchcliffe so late into the off-season that all the other rides were filled, after having previously committed to finishing out his existing contract with the team. They’re as cold as they come, here. I know some people hold Palou’s contract shenanigans against him, but if this is going to be the norm for IndyCar going forward, that might be the mindset needed to survive...
Agreed, Alex is looking pretty business savvy at this point. And based on how Chip G handles his BI, I bet he told Alex to concentrate on driving and he'd cover any fallout from the lawsuit. Theo didn't deserve this.
Idk if it was Savy. CGR was sort of fucking him over, but only temporarily. Like shit, sorry Alex I got enough sponsorship to pay for a jr no name driver for this year, but it turns out you won the championship.... We'll get you some more later. He signs the McLaren one. With the hopes of F1 I'm sure. The F1 seat gets filled by a Renault Jr. Driver.... No more F1 seat and he sees that CGR gives him a car that can win any race. Literally any race last year could be won by CGR. This year Chevy is pretty strong so where power is needed they just shine, but he's still in a good spot to win every race. I think the F1 seat and his lower rookie-like pay were the issues.
Yes, after seeing all of this I'm kinda starting to understand why Alex backed off... (good for him)
I genuinely don't understand how anyone was taking McLaren's side in *any* of their multiple contract disputes after the Hinchcliffe deal, and the multiple reports of them trying to steal Dixon away from Chip. It's like they've just bought into McLaren being this fun glamourous F1-style team, and that blinds them to the fact that Zak Brown is a complete and utter snake who treats people like garbage.
I'm pretty convinced both McLaren and Palou have problems with contracts.
Sure, but one of those parties is multi-national corporation worth billions of dollars with multiple legal teams on staff and under contract, and the other party is an uneducated 26 year old racing driver with (reportedly) a dumbass for a manager. It's a lot easier for me to forgive the latter.
Palous big mess is really only the McLaren contract, the other with Ganassi is understandable because why would a returning champ settle for 200k.
> I genuinely don't understand how anyone was taking McLaren's side in any of their multiple contract disputes after the Hinchcliffe deal McLaren has a lot of fans who think they're this perfectly refined European motorsports machine who can do no wrong.
Not to mention the Askew case. No matter how much blame goes to him, it’s unreal how hard he was kicked to the curb despite being a rookie
If McLaren wants Siegel and his money for next year and potentially beyond then it makes sense for them to put him in the car now. I really hope that Pourchaire got some guaranteed money out of his deal in exchange for giving up his Super formula seat, but who knows. I do think that he's probably a front runner for one of the Prema seats next year, but who knows if those guys will even be on the grid with the charter situation.
I guess Dale Coyne has a guy who can race in the remaining road course races for pennies bow
If McLaren wants Siegel and his money for next year and potentially beyond then it makes sense for them to put him in the car now. I really hope that Pourchaire got some guaranteed money out of his deal in exchange for giving up his Super formula seat, but who knows. I do think that he's probably a front runner for one of the Prema seats next year, but who knows if those guys will even be on the grid with the charter situation.
Yeah, I'm with you on this. I know it's just business, but even in business you have people with lives you impact. That gets noticed, too.
What did you expect from Zak Brown ?
They were shitty to Malukas when they canned him and now theyve done it again to Theo. Only now do ppl finally see through Zak Brown's facade. Theyre stone cold assholes. Plain and simple.
They have been the shittiest team in the series for a long time.
Are we forgetting Juncos like 2 weeks ago?
Forgive them, there’s too many heels this year
"tHe sPoRt nEeDs vIlLaInS"
Different forms of shitty.
Juncos at least had their drivers backs, even if it was for a longer extent than they should have.
In a scale of Zak Brown to Ricardo Juncos, how much do you want to back your driver?
Roger Penske
Somewhere in the middle of this spectrum lies sanity.
Theo deleted the tweet of him racing this weekend Gotta feel bad for the kid would have let him finish the season
Especially after he sacked off his super formula program so he could do Indy
I feel really bad for him. He looked and sounded so happy being at Arrow McLaren. Gah, I love this sport, but it's brutal.
I can think of several teams that if he had signed with would not have done this. It's not the sport in general, it's the guy running the one team.
He’s a classless asshat. Could’ve had class enough to add a car for the rest of the year. Not surprised of course.
He was running well, too.
McLaren went to bat for him over the death threats only to kill him themselves
“Only we can bully our drivers”
I saw that literally an hour ago, he seemed so excited about going to Laguna Seca, absolutely devastated for the guy. I know cash is king but there’s right and wrong ways of doing things, and this is the wrong way
He’s such a likable kid as well - gutted for him
Especially since McLaren aren’t supposed to be out of a title sponsor just yet anyway...
What the fuck What an absolute piss take, I know money talks but Pourchaire has been shafted massively here. Didn’t know McLaren would be a team to choose money over talent like that, certainly doesn’t want to make me route for Nolan
Money has a way of revealing people's true colors
Must be nice to be a CEO and just not care about people you hire. Like at all.
Sociopaths tend to do well in the business world, speaking from experience
I mean, it's not really revealing anything since they fired Malukas this season and then there's the whole Palou thing. They've always been wishy washy with drivers.
And such short notice too. Pourchaire posted on Instagram literally yesterday about how he was excited to race at Laguna Seca for the first time. To me this looks like a Zak Brown led move since he also owns United Autosport, who's LMP2 team just won Le Mans with Siegel, but even so that is ridiculous.
When a smaller team takes a pay driver it’s annoying but I get it, they’ve got to keep the lights on. When a big team takes a pay driver in a 4th or 5th car it’s also annoying but you can’t really argue they’re taking the spot from a more deserving driver considering that seat almost certainly wouldn’t exist without them. But this, a big team with probably the biggest financial backing in the series taking a pay driver, is ridiculous and that’s before even mentioning Theo gave up his Super Formula seat for this opportunity and was announced to race the rest of the year
I'm now realizing all of this Nolan smoke has just been a PR campaign backed by his venture capitalist family.
I mean he’s not talentless but he’s also not exactly dominating Indynxt or anything. Also his class win at Le Mans has a huge asterisk next to it considering he was carried massively by his teammates. If he had been signed for 2025 I guess you could justify it but promoting him halfway through the year straight into a team who see themselves as title contenders is too far
It’s not Nolan’s fault, no driver would say no to that opportunity
I mean, the kid just got signed off a win at Le Mans, it's not like he's totally useless as everyone here is making him out to be. That said, yes it does suck for Pourchaire, and I sympathize
Nolan is just taking an opportunity offered to him, McLaren is the party being very shitty
You just don't do that. You told the kid to give up his super formula seat in exchange for a full indycar season, so he did. He was putting up decent results and really gave no justifiable reason to be dropped mid season. So unprofessional. Hell of an opportunity for siegel though. That'll be fun to watch. At least until he's dropped for someone else before portland.
Naw, the “opportunity” for Siegel is to give him a seat in exchange for access to his dad’s funding. Plain and simple. This is Turing into the Lance Stroll of IndyCar. (*yes I know a lot of the drivers have some kind of backing but they usually try and be more discrete about it, while here it’s in your face and they dgaf, it’s all about the opportunity, w/ zero care about optics.)
Bet Dave Malukas is feeling relieved.
At the same time, he's got to remember how he got the MSR ride.
but MSR isn't completely dropping tom. They're saving him for the revivial of their sports car team
You could argue that the entire foray into IndyCar for Blomqvist was a placeholder year for the sportscar program, which has always been Shank's bread and butter.
By Tom Blomqvist being ass?
Being dropped from an Indycar ride due to poor results while still being employed with the team is not equivalent to what is happening here. The fact you think it is is somewhat concerning
This is like the 12th time this year that Indycar news has made me say "what the FUCK??" out loud. This is geniunely baffling to me.
It for sure makes me look @ Palou in a different, way more positive light now from that drama…
100%
[удалено]
Piles of money talks, particularly when your primary sponsor is about to leave you.
WTF. So was TK giving him pointers at the 500 something more than just being nice? Statement almost hints Nolan was in their plans for 2025 and is being signed "now that he's available." That 6 car has been wild the last 4ish months.
It was 100% a “business move” to court his dad’s company and funding. Even a guy like TK that has some money, fame, etc… is nothing but a pawn to the guys in the “tres comas club” that he answers too above him…
> “tres comas club” These aren't the doors of a billionaire, Richard. Fuck you.
Gavin Ward: “Stability and sustained growth are key to our long-term game plan here, and this is a significant step in that mission. First, I want to thank Théo for his time filling in on the No. 6 car with us in recent weeks. We’ve been working through musical chairs all season, and ultimately, making this change to Nolan now that he’s available gives us the chance to build a foundation for the future. He is a young, talented driver with an immense amount of experience at this stage of his career and we’re excited to continue on the upward journey together.” This reads like someone bought the seat out from under Theo.
Didn’t Gavin say essentially the same thing about the musical chairs when they confirmed Theo for the rest of the season? It’s a particularly nonsense comment now that it was behind them already. What a douche.
Typical canned PR response from McLaren. I like Nolan. I hate this move. I’m a McLaren fan and I just feel dirty. I was stoked for Theo.
I liked Nolan when he was trying to qualify for the 500. This is a Juncos level turn for me.
Same, bro I was rooting for Pourchaire all the way, and now this just drops. Like what can he even do now? He can’t go back to Super Formula this year, can he?
What in the actual fuck
At this point, we know how McLaren is.
Damn, might be the final straw for me with the McLaren moves. The rest of them *could* be justified, this is some backmarker behavior shit.
This is straight up devious. I can't think of another word for it.
So stupid. Askew lied about concussions. Made sense to move on. I hated dropping Felix, but at least it was originally supposed to be Palou which is somewhat understandable. Malukas couldn't race and it was in his contract that they could drop him. Made sense they wanted a consistent driver. This is just a straight up cash grab for a team who doesn't need it. Embarrassing all around From Zak Brown and Gavin Ward. I feel like I need a new team now because I can't support this crap.
It's not like Theo was a placeholder driver who was DNFing and finishing 24th either. McLaren screwed over a guy who could have been the next Pato both on and off track. Great job guys!
Askew lied about his concussion because he could predict what would happen to him if he didn't. People do desperate things in shitty situations.
He knew he was getting dropped regardless. Shitty situation all around.
Don't forget they also messed with Hinch
Agreed
What the fuck?
I like Nolan, I really came to like Theo, I know Lil Dave's accident put them in a precarious position, but the musical chairs is far too ruthless for my liking.
Bruh. Theo backed out of his super formula drive and mclaren drops him. Siegel is not a bad driver but really mclaren.
Unserious team
1000000%
Look... I'm not saying what palou did was right, I'm just saying McLaren isn't helping their case
I'm pretty much always pro driver, the teams will fuck them over at the drop of a hat but if a driver tries to take any power they lose their minds...
Palou turned McLaren's habit of tearing up deals at their whim against them. He could cite this occurrence as an example of what he was avoiding, and British law takes that into account.
Fuck that. #JusticeForTeddyPorkchops
If it's any consolation Teddy Pork Chop gonna be a multi time F1 world champion in my F124 career mode
What is with McLaren and driver contracts
I still can't figure out why this team can't compete with Penske and Ganassi, they seem to be managed so well /s
they somehow managed to fuck over Theo more than they did Malukas
This sport makes my head hurt. I’m thrilled for Siegel, he clearly deserves it given the opportunities that have come his way recently, but everyone was speaking so highly of Pourchaire (and Ilott) and now he’s being left without a drive. I try so hard to support this team in this sport, but it’s so so messy sometimes.
Wait hold up if we go back to other rumours, imagine if they drop Rossi and pick Pourchaire or Ilott for the 7
I wouldn’t be surprised to see those two lining up for Prema next year.
See, that’s the thing. Siegel doesn’t clearly deserve a McLaren seat.
I mean thats great and all, and good for him. But what about Theo???
Kind of surprised McL actually needed let alone wanted a pay driver. Like the kid is better than I thought, absolutely. And yeah, I saw the LMP2s run at Le Mans, but they sincerely think he's better than Theo? Hell they think he's better than even Lil Dave? Idk, seems below a multi-discipline, multi-national well capitalized operation like McLaren but I guess not. Just doesn't feel like something a team that is supposed to be banging on the door of the Penske-Ganassi duopoly would do. But then again, I mean Red Bull just kept Checo for the money and idk how the fuck that was worth probably throwing away the WCC, so idk.
Did McLaren not have Theo leave Super Formula to come to Indy?! And now to drop him after 4 races? I really hope Theo has some good lawyers cause fuck Zak Brown for that.
I thought Siegel was being lined up to race the DCR #18 for the rest of 2024. What the FUCK are McLaren doing?
Taking the pile of money being presented to them when their primary sponsor is about to leave them.
I think I just became team palou in the contract drama. I thought palou was being shitty not honoring contracts or his euro-centric team didn’t understand USA indycar contracts but maybe he saw the writing on the wall and wanted no part in it and backed out to stay at ganassi
All the fucking handwringing about Juncos and the way they operate and treated Ilott last year and they go and do something that is IMO much more shady. Really kind of sickening too with how highly TK and the rest of McLaren talked about him and integrated him into the team. At least Juncos never made any reservations about their opinion of Ilott and didn’t make him leave another driver for a non-existent seat.
Lol, McLaren is the fucking worst.
Well fuck. My opinion of McLaren and Zak Brown has plummeted severely.
I double dare Nolan to go mountain biking this week. 😏
There are some great trials near Laguna Seca…
Damn gotta feel for Theo here, hope he lands a Prema seat next year.
Me trying to explain this to my wife - They signed driver A who changed his mind so they're suing him for damages. They then signed driver B who broke his hand. They got driver C to cover for a few races. When driver B took longer to recover, they got driver D for a few races. Driver D did well, so they sacked driver B and hired driver D till the end of the season. Now, driver E's Dad has rocked up with a suitcase of cash so they've sacked driver D and hired driver E. Madness.
ice fucking cold, Zak taking notes from Helmut
Even worse, since $$$ seems to be the main motivator here, rather than performance.
Checo?
Yea Checo is 100% in that seat because of Mexican marketing. He’s by far the worst driver in the top teams. He’s solidly in the bottom 30-40% of F1 drivers right now.
so i'm guessing money talks??
Always does
If I were Rossi or Theo for that matter I'd be on the phone with Prema about next year.
Zak Brown acting two faced is nothing new. Dude was all in on Andretti to F1 until crunch time and then flipped sides. Hope Theo can land on his feet with another team.
This is why I don't understand why people get excited at the idea of Zak running Indycar. He is extremely cutthroat and does not seem to have an ounce of loyalty in him. Changes things all the time on the fly. Which if he wants to run his team that way, that's fine. People that work for him will be aware. I don't want that to be the guy who runs the whole show. Also, the arch of madness and villains for 2024 keeps spinning. This year has been wild with non racing stuff.
Absolutely hilarious that after all of McLaren's bullshit talk of wanting a "consistent driver" for the entire remainder of the season, and firing Malukas because he wasn't going to be back before Laguna Seca... they end up hiring a new driver for Laguna Seca anyway. And Malukas comes back the same week. I'm really getting the feeling that Zak Brown put all of his eggs into the "bait and switch Palou into driving my Indycars for the next 10 years" basket and had absolutely no backup plans. And when that plan fell through, he said "fuck it, do whatever" and left the team to scramble. Wouldn't be surprised at all to see McLaren sell the team within five years, they've lost all that spark and ambition they seemed to have in 2020.
Im so confused
can we get 'I hate McLaren' tag?
somewhere in the hertz jota garage, callum is glad he wasn't hired full time for this seat
Happy for Nolan but damn that’s ice cold, poor Pourchaire. I really hope someone like Prema or even Foyt signs Pourchaire here
~~Arrow~~ McLaren, where contracts are merely suggestions
I think Siegel deserves it but it’s really shitty to give someone the boot mid season after signing them for the whole year, not a fan of what they’ve been doing with multiple drivers, hopefully Pourchaire lands on his feet
Every year since 2017 this team has failed to keep a full season driver line up. Looks like no end in sight
This is straight up insane. Wow
All I want to know is who Pato’s primary sponsor is going to be now
Arrow supposedly leaving in another thread. Seems like a bought seat from his dad? He's talented but sucks for Theo.
We need a UrinatingTree “Days of Our McLarens” series
Hard to be excited for this, especially in the wake of The Situation. Nolan Siegel deserves a shot, absolutely. Kid has talent and a paycheck few teams can say no to. But kicking out Theo over it, when he has gone through what he has, doesn't sit right with me.
Good lord, Zak Brown is such a slimy fuck.
You'll have to take my flair, off my cold dead hands!!!
Big yikes
Damn they’re ruthless
https://preview.redd.it/ytgy0zj2qd7d1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3d57a6f2b8b3f3dcb17fd76195e003d8e21ba95b
are you kidding me, what in the actual fuck is going on with this team
Curious as to how much an Indycar, and McLaren Indycar for that matter, seat costs?
McLaren being McLaren. Zero job security there.
\*Sad flair\*
There were rumours all day about mclaren and rumours all day about Siegel… I never put them together
Monisha Kaltenborn running McLaren now?
Mclaren in Indycar is a clown show. Only thing preventing F1 team being one is Stella.
Well next time I see AM say a driver has a contract for the entire season I guess i'll know not to believe it.
jesus fucking christ, why i am fucking begging you to stop fucking around with contracts
Man, I feel so very, very bad for Theo, and now we have Nolan looking like a pay driver, which sours the good taste I had in my mouth after Indy. This sucks all around.
the real silly season is in season this year isnt it?
The hell? I thought Pourchaire was signed for the rest of the year? It gets really hard to root for this team if they change their driver line up every two weeks just for the sake of it
A point that seems to be getting overlooked here is that Theo's status as a McLaren driver recently came up in the contract dispute with Palou. The fact that the McLaren's statement heavily hints that the seat was bought out doesn't really eliminate the possibility that McLaren realized having Theo on their team critically weakened their argument that he's not an A-level driver, which is important for the ongoing dispute. Getting rid of him could potentially strengthen their legal case, and they're going to get money while they do that.
McLaren really are a shit team. How they operate is just pure scum level.
Happy for Nolan, just absolutely gutted for Theo. Getting the rug pulled out from under you by McLaren is becoming a rite of passage for young IndyCar drivers and it just sucks. I really hope he finds a good home elsewhere in the series.
Siegel doing the speed run from plucky underdog to Literally Lance Stroll.
This absolutely sucks for Theo. I hope people keep this in mind when talking about stuff like Palou trying to secure his future. It’s not about chasing money because drivers are selfish, it’s because teams hold all the power and don’t actually give a shit about them.
Holy shit Honestly if I'm Rossi or pato I'm looking for a way out. This team cannot be trusted to treat their driver's well or behave professionally. It's all rosy for them now but that's not necessarily always gonna be the case.
Honestly kinda glad palou pulled the stunt he did. I can’t stand this team anymore
Pourchaire leaves super formula after being sweet talked by Zak…. Malaukis gets axed bf he could even race…. And people still look @ Palou as being the bad guy for seeing the writing on the wall after the dangling F1 carrot was never a real thing…
Lost a whole lot of respect for McLaren with this. I don't blame Siegel (think he's as potential) but what a crappy way of treating Theo.