Against all the odd, Pato O’Ward managed to take pole position, in front of his teammate Christian Lundgaard and Alex Palou. Other great drivers weren’t so fortunate.
As always, two groups of drivers battled for the top sixth to have a chance of participating in round 2. With a high track temperature, this qualifying session was full of surprises.
Top drivers at the back of the grid
Scott McLaughlin was the first driver to hit the track. In the last corner, he bit the vibrator and spun. He took a drive through penalty for causing that temporary yellow flag. The first time on hard tyres was in 1:42.108, from Newgarden. David Malukas wass the first driver to put the soft and hit a 1:40.330 time, the fastest lap of all weekend so far. Veekay was impeded by Kirkwood on his flying lap. With less than a minute remaining, the track seemed to evolve and Alex Palou proved how comfortable he was by putting his car under the 1:40 time with a 1:39.593. The three Penske drivers were all below sixth place, and therefore didn’t advance into round 2. Will Power is kind of distraught by the situation : “We were good in every single session, except for the one that counts”. It’s the worst qualifying session for Penske since the Indy 500 in 2021.
Arrow McLaren took notes from Penske and decided to put Pato O’Ward directly on soft tyres. A gamble that may pay in qualifying, but might be bad for him for the race. With five minutes remaining on the clock, he managed to put his car first. Robert Shwartzman’s nightmare weekend continued as he took a drive through penalty for speeding into the pit lane. Christian Lundgaard confirmed his great form from Free Practice 2 as he set the fastest time of group 2. Santino Ferrucci missed the top six by only 0.002 seconds, behind Marcus Ericsson.
Battle for the pole
Most of the cars went early to prevent being trapped. Tyres strategies varied, but most of them were on hard tyres, except for Pato O’Ward, who remained on used soft. Alex Palou impeded Pato O’Ward, resulting in the Mexican driver losing a lot of time. For the second time, the number 10 Chip Ganassi Racing driver put a 1:39.651 lap time. Both Arrow McLaren remaining made it into the top six. Alexander Rossi, who was feeling great before the weekend as he confirmed during the press conference that “the morale is pretty high in the team”, managed to go into the top six. Marcus Armstrong, who will start in P7, is happy with the performance of his car but is angry that Colton Herta didn’t get any penalty after he impeded him.
Six amazing drivers battled for pole : Alex Palou, Pato O’Ward, Christian Lundgaard, Marcus Ericsson, Alexander Rossi and Colton Herta. By being the fastest so far, Alex Palou was the favorite. Four of those cars were on soft, however Alexander Rossi decided to gamble on a single lap run. The driver number 26, Colton Herta, was the first to make a time, in 1:40.842. After an installation lap, Pato O’Ward set a new fastest time of 1:39.956. With a bit of oversteer in the last corner, Colton Herta couldn’t go and get that pole away from the number 5 driver. On the contrary, Christian Lundgaard set a great lap and put his car in second. It’s an Arrow McLaren 1-2 for tomorrow. It’s also the first pole position for Pato O’Ward since Mid Ohio in 2022. Something the Mexican is very happy about : “I’m glad to be back here at the front of the field, super pump. […] Q1 was kind of getting there, we made some changes and in Q2, the car felt good”. Christian Lundgaard, him, joked : “We’re just trying to do what they’re doing in Formula 1 *laugh*.”