McLaren’s journey on a downward spiral is refusing to end since it kicked off in 2021. 2020 was a memorable year for the team when they beat the likes of Ferrari and Renault to take the 3rd spot in the constructors’ championship. Since then, they have slipped one spot down each year. Signs are not looking any good for the current campaign either as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri struggle with multiple issues. The IndyCar team, however, is killing it in the series. As Patricio O’Ward and Alexander Rossi took the podium finishes, McLaren F1 fans took Zak Brown & Co to the task.
The recent outing in Miami turned out to be quite a bummer for McLaren. The team showed signs of improvement after a change in the floor design in Baku. However, Norris’ Lap 1 collision and Piastri’s brake-by-wire issue saw the duo finish no higher than P17 and P19, respectively.
Pato O’Ward & Co show Zak Brown and the McLaren F1 team how it’s done
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Pato has shown incredible consistency in 2023. While a race win still remains elusive, he is just 6 points behind Alex Palou, the McLaren F1 team’s reserve driver, in the drivers’ standings. Palou took another win yesterday at the GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (road course). Meanwhile, Pato finished behind him with Rossi in 3rd. Felix Rosenqvist, another Arrow McLaren driver, took P5 to deliver his season-best result.
Lauding the efforts of its podium finishers, Arrow McLaren congratulated them with a post on Twitter. While most of the fans celebrated the win, some from the Papaya Army took it as an opportunity to mock their F1 team. Take a look at some reactions.
It’s like the opposite of our F1 team
— Will Topping (@wtopp92) May 13, 2023
One frustrated fan enquired if it was possible for the engineers from the Indy branch of the team to switch to the F1 branch.
Can their engineering team trade places with the F1 squad?
— S(l)am (@returnofbeaf) May 13, 2023
At this rate Zak Brown about to sneak in one of these IndyCars for Imola. https://t.co/xMTA64Pnhr
— ßoolean (@TheNinjiPlays) May 13, 2023
would be cool if lando and oscar recreated this in f1 soon https://t.co/d7YQRGpFte
— thena🏁 (@f1thena) May 13, 2023
Some fans mockingly celebrated Pato and Alexander’s feat.
Atleast we‘re good at something 🙃 https://t.co/ULrAhmzP6c
— BeingxRaul (@beingxracing19) May 13, 2023
Arrow McLaren Indy>>>>>>McLaren F1 https://t.co/Vos4Cdv0iR
— Chxrry Bloomy 🇲🇽🍒🌸 (@ChXXXery) May 14, 2023
Others felt the McLaren F1 branch could never achieve the feat their Indy team just did.
McLaren F1 department could never https://t.co/jDFEqJMYil
— Pier (@lifeof_Pier) May 13, 2023
mclaren f1 could quite literally never https://t.co/eOrRC7By7m
— ju ❕ (@vetteljuice) May 13, 2023
at least one mclaren team is doing good 🫣 https://t.co/DPDGwPSofI
— nathalie.🦖 (@lancexstroll) May 13, 2023
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Watch This Story: How Lando Norris Had a Chance to Go to Red Bull But Instead Chose McLaren
All Mclaren fans should watch Indy. Great reminder of what being fast is like.
— JM Mclaren (@JM_Mclaren) May 13, 2023
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Pragmatically speaking, Lando and Oscar are simply not in the position to replicate their Indy counterparts’ performance. But F1 is a sport of uncertainties and one can never predict how quickly things can change.