The Arrow McLaren driver started out the 2024 season in style securing a great podium finish. Just like in 2023, he came in P2 at St. Petersburg. But this time around there wasn’t late heartbeeak as eventual race winner Josef Newgarden was in complete control.
O’Ward was still pretty pleased with his performance, as he said in the post-race press conference:
“Yeah, really strong day for us today. I think it’s a very solid foundation to what is going to be a very tight, very competitive rest of the year, but the Penskes were just too strong for us today.”
The Mexican driver went on to recall and break down his race, mentioning how grateful he was for all the work done by his team and engine provider Chevrolet in the off-season:
“I think we were all kind of playing the fuel game a little bit, and got to give it to everybody at Chevrolet, my guys over at Arrow McLaren.
“We got down to work in the off-season and we’ve made some gains and it was really cool to see the top 4 was all Chevrolet. I’m pretty pleased to see that.”
2023 at St. Petersburg had been a bittersweet P2 for O’Ward as he missed out on the win due to a technical issue in the final laps. In spite of having a pretty successful season, with seven podiums in 16 races, he never managed to win a race.
Asked on how to avoid another winless season, the 24-year-old, who has recently signed a contract extension with McLaren, admitted it will not be an easy feat:
“Well, stay cool, I guess. That usually works out. It’s tough. It really is tough. As we saw today, mistakes will — you’re going to have to pay some if you’re going to be making mistakes, and that’s what you don’t want to be doing.”
This time around, being consistently in the top positions will be even more important than usual in the early part of the campaign due to the mid-season hybrid switch set to happen after the Indy 500 — and regular podiums will be required when you factor in the quality of the drivers at CGR, Team Penske and Andretti.
“With the hybrid coming in halfway through the season, you’ve got to be on it. There’s no room for error because you need to leave those Joker cards for mishaps that could happen when you introduce something new.
“I think there’s no room for error anymore because the guys that you’re competing against are also winning races, and when they’re not winning races, they’re on the podium.
“This is where we have to be, and this is where we have to maintain ourselves. I think we just keep approaching it like we have, and be aware of who we’re racing and what we can accomplish each and every weekend.”
