Explained: How McLaren expanded its F1 operation to include IndyCar program

Turn on almost any form of motorsport these days, and there’s a good chance you’ll find a McLaren competing there. It can be hard to forget that, just under a decade ago, the papaya team was struggling for wins in Formula 1, where it had been focusing all of its efforts.

But how exactly did McLaren end up here? How did the operation come to include the Arrow McLaren IndyCar team — alongside its operations in Formula E, Extreme E, and more? Today, we’re delving into a brief history.

McLaren buys into Schmidt Peterson Motorsport

In August of 2019, an IndyCar team called SPM — or, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports — announced a collaboration with McLaren that would begin in 2020.

The team that we know as Arrow McLaren today was initially founded in 2001, where it was called Sam Schmidt Motorsports. The eponymous founder Sam Schmidt was an open-wheel racer himself before being severely injured in a practice crash at Walt Disney World Speedway in Florida.

Schmidt’s car hit the outside wall at approximately 180 miles per hour, leaving its driver in critical condition. Though Schmidt lived, he was diagnosed as a quadriplegic as a result of severe spinal injuries. Just 14 months after his accident, he announced he was returning to IndyCar — albeit as a team owner this time, and not as a driver.

Sam Schmidt Motorsports debuted at the 2001 IndyCar season opener in Phoenix with Davey Hamilton behind the wheel, and later in the year, Jacques Lazier earned the team its first podium.

It took a few challenging years for the team to really find its footing; in 2013, it finally took its first race win with Simon Pagenaud at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, followed by a win later that year in Houston.

While the team was never a serious title contender, the pairing of James Hinchcliffe and Robert Wickens launched the team up the standings in 2018 until a nasty crash severely injured the latter racer. The 2019 season was a challenge, but by that point, McLaren had grown interested.

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Of course, McLaren’s interest in IndyCar racing isn’t a brand-new phenomenon. The papaya team’s chassis won three Indianapolis 500s in 1972, 1974, and 1976 with Mark Donohue first followed by Johnny Rutherford twice.

The outfit also arrived at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2017 and 2019 with the intention of fielding Fernando Alonso as a one-off competitor in the 500-mile race. Alonso retired from the event in 2017 after performing well, but in 2019, he failed to qualify after an embarrassing slew of organizational errors from the team left it ill prepared.

Still, it was enough. In 2019, McLaren committed to partnering with Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports from 2020 and beyond. In 2021, the team became the only non-Penske Chevy team to win a race since 2016. That same year, it purchased a majority stake in the team.

But why? What would encourage McLaren to head off to IndyCar?

Ask Zak Brown, and he’ll tell you that it’s all down to the team’s desire to build an interdisciplinary network of talent that can transcend any one series. In speaking with Brown, he’s noted the transfer of sponsors between IndyCar, F1, and Formula E, while certain crew members may wish to increase their skillset by, say, swapping from the combustion-focused IndyCar series to the battery-powered Formula E series.

“We’re in the business of racing, so if we can go racing in something, that’s good for our brand, and it’s profitable,” Brown said during a round-table interview with the author during the 2023 London ePrix. “We’re building franchise value for our shareholders.”

It’s also a boon to IndyCar; the presence of an international racing powerhouse like McLaren has helped boost the perception of the sport across the board.

“The only thing constant in life is change,” Sam Schmidt told SPEED SPORT when asked about the McLaren partnership. “We have to realize the viewer is constantly changing, and we have to constantly change our product to met viewership.”

McLaren, Schmidt said, has “changed the game. It has raised the level of competition. It has raised the level of exposure.”

In the same SPEED SPORT article, IndyCar team owner Dale Coyne added that the presence of McLaren “elevates everyone else’s game. [McLaren] have brought money to the paddock.” That’s money — often in the form of sponsorships — for everyone involved.

The team has changed the name of the IndyCar game — and so far, it’s been for the better.

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