Ahead of the IndyCar Milwaukee Mile in 2025, The Girls Who – Motorsport spoke to Arrow McLaren driver Christian Lundgaard about his expectations of joining the papaya team. Now, he’s four races into his second season in the No. 7 car. We caught up with him to discuss whether his mindset has changed and how he can build momentum for the upcoming Indianapolis 500.
Joining Arrow McLaren
In 2025, Lundgaard headed into a new season with a new team. After four seasons with RLL Racing, he stepped up into Arrow McLaren, taking charge of the No. 7 car. When we asked about his expectations with the new team, the Danish driver was “going in with the hope we were going to be competitive”. But aside from that, he didn’t have any expectations.
Instead, he knew that his job was to “go out there and deliver what the car is capable of”. And he did just that. Matching long-term McLaren driver Pato O’Ward, Lundgaard achieved six podiums over the year and finished fifth in the standings. Going into the final races, he stated that his mindset was “wanting to have fun [and] get the best out of the material.”
Lundgaard had few expectations in his debut year. But now he faces his second campaign with the papaya outfit. Ahead of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, we discussed with him whether that has altered his mindset.
Don’t Change What’s Working
“It’s the exact same.” Was Lundgaard’s immediate response. He followed up to say that his mindset “never has changed.” Reflecting on his debut season with the team, the No. 7 driver credits his ‘having fun’ mindset as “a part of our success”. He believes that is the reason why it remains the same, stating, “Don’t change what’s working at the end of the day.”
Whilst he shared that the “overall mindset from me and the crew of the 7 team is very similar“, the McLaren driver explained that they are “trying to fine-tune” in 2026. This will help them build momentum into the coming races, as well as give them a more consistent season.
Lundgaard Looks Ahead to the 500
“We want to be competitive at every single event. We know where our package is strong; we just need to execute. Even if it isn’t strong, we know what we need to improve.”
~ Lundgaard on the focus for 2026.
Although a consistent mindset is needed for a consistent year, Long Beach is also the final stop ahead of the iconic Month of May. Changing focus from the full year to the immediate challenge, we discussed how important momentum is for the Indy 500. Comparing Long Beach to the Sonsio Grand Prix at the IMS Road Course, Lundgaard believes that “Long Beach … is an outlier in comparison“ and thinks that you “want to be better at the GP”.
Last year, the team’s focus for building that momentum came before the Sonsio GP. Consequently, Lundgaard thinks this was one of the reasons why the team “shot ourselves in the foot”. With a positive track record at IMS, the Dane explained how they were “thinking we’re going into the GP; we’re just going to walk away with it”. Despite assuming it would be easy, the reality didn’t match, and he reflected that, “It was a big struggle for us. Then we went into the month of May with that.”
Ultimately, he admitted that that viewpoint “was a mistake from our side from a mental perspective”. As a result, Lundgaard shared that the period ahead of the Indy 500 in 2025 had given him “a lot of learnings” to take on board this year. Whilst his overall mentality hasn’t changed, in 2026, he wants to “focus a little more on just keeping a neutral mindset”.
From 2025 to 2026
So far, Lundgaard’s second season with McLaren is looking positive. With two podiums to his name and standing third in the championship, his mindset appears to be working. Whilst he maintains his mindset of just having fun, he’s also taking what he learnt last year to improve. He’s focusing on building momentum with the team and having fun doing so.
