{"id":10596,"date":"2022-07-15T13:42:35","date_gmt":"2022-07-15T17:42:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=10596"},"modified":"2022-07-15T13:42:35","modified_gmt":"2022-07-15T17:42:35","slug":"mclaren-analyzing-the-f1-indycar-and-formula-e-seats-for-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2022\/07\/15\/mclaren-analyzing-the-f1-indycar-and-formula-e-seats-for-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"McLaren: Analyzing the F1, IndyCar, and Formula E seats for 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>An early F1 exit for Daniel Ricciardo? Alex Palou drama in IndyCar? Who drives for the new McLaren Formula E team? Let&#8217;s take a look.<\/h3>\n<p>Every racing series has a silly season. When speculation circles around driver movement for the following year. But rarely have we seen such a wild rumor market surrounding one team, McLaren, and multiple racing series. First came McLaren CEO Zak Brown&#8217;s comments about Daniel Ricciardo&#8217;s future in F1. Their organization confirmed signing four different IndyCar drivers, despite only having three seats in that series. McLaren announced their purchase of the Mercedes-EQ team and plans to join Formula E next season. Then came the incredible drama between Ganassi Racing and Alex Palou. There are a lot of questions so let&#8217;s break them down.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: Okay, let&#8217;s start with what is 100% confirmed? Or at as much as it can be in Motorsport.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>A<\/strong>: In Formula 1, Lando Norris is locked in and Daniel Ricciardo is technically under contract for 2023. For the IndyCar Series, both Pato O&#8217;Ward and Alexander Rossi are locked into multi-year deals. In Formula E, McLaren enters the series next season taking over the Mercedes-EQ team, which will be powered by Nissan, but says they will have a brand new driver lineup. Felix Rosenqvist is under contract for 2023, but not tied to a particular series.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: A lot of this centers around Ricciardo&#8217;s seat. So which drivers have been rumored to take it?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>A: <\/strong>Alex Albon. Sebastian Vettel. Oscar Piastri. Alex Palou. Colton Herta. Pato O&#8217;Ward. Felix Rosenqvist. Now Daniel hasn&#8217;t had a great season, but this level of rumors for one seat is quite remarkable.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: Who from Alex\u00a0Palou, Pato O&#8217;Ward, Alexander Rossi &amp; Felix Rosenqvist have experience in F1 or Formula E?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>A:\u00a0<\/strong>Interestingly enough, every driver listed in that question has at least some experience in European single-seater racing. However, only Rossi and Rosenqvist have competed in Formula 1 and Formula E respectively. Rossi served as a test driver for Caterham in F1 from 2012-2014 and then went on to compete in seven races in 2014 and 2015 for Marussia. As for Rosenqvist, he is actually a three-time Formula E race winner, finishing third in the championship with Mahindra Racing in 2017. Something else to note is that O&#8217;Ward tested the MCL35M at the 2021 Young Drivers test, setting the fourth-fastest time of 19 drivers.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sim sessions. \ud83d\udcaa No let up for <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/danielricciardo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@DanielRicciardo<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gEzPSGd8r1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/gEzPSGd8r1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; McLaren (@McLarenF1) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/McLarenF1\/status\/1547277808107507713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 13, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: Why would McLaren keep the Mercedes-EQ team personnel and not their drivers? Nyck de Vries is the reigning Formula E Champion and Stoffel Vandoorne is a former McLaren F1 driver.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>A:<\/strong> de Vries is the Mercedes F1 reserve driver and is expected to <a href=\"https:\/\/the-race.com\/formula-e\/de-vries-closing-on-dual-maserati-toyota-2023-programme\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">join the new Maserati Formula E<\/a> team next season. He may add the World Endurance Championship (WEC) as well, so let&#8217;s rule him out.\u00a0 Meanwhile, while McLaren has a history with Vandoorne, they probably view him as an avenue already traveled. And there are rumors that he will join the new Dragon Racing Formula E team.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: Wait, don&#8217;t McLaren have a history of developing some big names?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>A:<\/strong> Their academy program has seen several F1 drivers come through like Lewis Hamilton, Alex Albon, Kevin Magnussen &amp; Lando Norris. Plus five current Formula E drivers &#8211; S\u00e9rgio Sette C\u00e2mara, Stoffel Vandoorne, Nyck de Vries, Oliver Turvey, &amp; Oliver Rowland.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: So can&#8217;t they just pull from those experienced Formula E drivers?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A: While it would be a smart (safe?) move considering next season will be a brand new generation of cars. Even going with Vandoorne and former Formula E driver Felix Rosenqvist. You get experience as they get their barrings in a new series. However, they seemed focused on a brand new driver team.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: Does McLaren have any F2 or F3 drivers to keep in mind for future roles on any of these three teams?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>A:<\/strong> No. The only current driver in the program is 13-year-old Ugo Ugochukwu who currently competes in the F4 British Championship. So F3 is next up in his development and not a threat for any of these seats for several years to come.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: Who even has the Superlicense points to drive in F1?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>A<\/strong>: Alex Palou already has the 40 Superlicense points needed to compete in F1 due to his winning of the IndyCar Series championship, which awarded him those 40 points. Pato O&#8217;Ward currently has 30 points and can achieve the coveted 40 with a finish of fourth place or better in the IndyCar Series championship this season.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: Okay, let&#8217;s cut to the chase, what is your predicted McLaren lineup for all three series in 2023?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>A:<\/strong> Perhaps not the big change as you might expect, but the IndyCar lineup has a new look and the Formula E driver pair is brand new.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Formula 1: Lando Norris &amp; Daniel Ricciardo<\/li>\n<li>IndyCar: Pato O&#8217;Ward, Alexander Rossi, &amp; Alex Palou<\/li>\n<li>Formula E: Felix Rosenqvist &amp; Sergio Sette Camara<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Q: And finally, if there is a big shake-up for 2024 how might it look?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>A: <\/strong>Ricciardo &amp; Palou swap series, with O&#8217;Ward waiting in the wings, while the Formula E drivers remain unless Sette Camara fails to deliver.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Formula 1: Lando Norris &amp; Alex Palou<\/li>\n<li>IndyCar: Pato O&#8217;Ward, Alexander Rossi, &amp; Daniel Ricciardo<\/li>\n<li>Formula E: Felix Rosenqvist &amp; Sergio Sette Camara<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Stay tuned for further McLaren driver lineup confirmations as we approach the 2023 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An early F1 exit for Daniel Ricciardo? Alex Palou drama in IndyCar? Who drives for the new McLaren Formula E team? Let&#8217;s take a look. Every racing series has a silly season. When speculation circles around driver movement for the following year. But rarely have we seen such a wild rumor market surrounding one team, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4174,"featured_media":10609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,9,6],"tags":[1600,25,77,184,444,66,1627],"class_list":["post-10596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-formula-1","category-formula-e","category-indycar","tag-alex-palou","tag-alexander-rossi","tag-daniel-ricciardo","tag-felix-rosenqvist","tag-lando-norris","tag-mclaren","tag-pato-oward"],"modified_by":"Nathan Reynolds","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4174"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}