Tony Kanaan, former IndyCar champion and current Team Principal of Arrow McLaren, was cagey when talking about his team’s driver lineup for next season.
It is widely expected that the team will change out two of its three drivers, with Nolan Siegel and Christian Lundgaard being forced to make way for the new hires.
Confirmation has not yet come of these moves, however, forcing those at Arrow McLaren to dodge questions about the team’s plans.
Kanaan described his situation with Lundgaard in an interesting way, however, and seemed to play down the fact that he has won two races this season and sits third in the points standings.
“I think first, there’s a lot of talk about what we’re doing in the team and a lot of speculation,” said Kanaan. “I think we haven’t reached an agreement yet.
“You guys will see in the near future what the team is doing. We haven’t been able to agree on a couple things.
“But I think as a team principal, I’m responsible for running this team as best as I can, and I think Christian has shown his potential, but also, there are other options out there, and I’ve got to consider all of them.
“The decision hasn’t been made yet. Although people keep putting people in my cars, it’s not done until it’s done.
“He’s still very much in play, and he’s an extremely capable race car driver. We’ll see what’s going to happen.”
Decision maker
Kanaan was brought into the team by Zak Brown to manage many aspects of Arrow McLaren’s operations.
One of those areas is driver signings, and Kanaan is taking it upon himself to ensure that his word is the only one that matters when it comes to discussions about potential driver lineups.
“There is a lot of things going on, a lot of distraction, and we’re able to keep this team on track with what we came here to do,” continued Kanaan.
“We came here to win the race. We came here to finish one-two-three, and we finished one-two. We’re trying to win this championship.
“I kept the team tight. I kept the team at truth. They’re going to hear from me whatever the decision is. If they haven’t heard from me, that means there is no decision made yet.
“But rest assured that the decision is going to come with a lot of certainty and not taking for granted that 130 people are putting their life and their faith towards me, towards this guy that has a lot of responsibility, and I feel responsible for all of them.
“If I have to take a gamble, take a gamble, and if I need to take a hit, I’ll take a hit. I’m here to win races. That’s what Zak put me here for. That’s why I wake up every morning, and I’m working on that team for 13, 14 hours a day since I retired.
“For me, nothing is changing. Bring it on. Bring the distractions. Will we’ll keep changing that a little bit. Today we’re going to talk about one-two.”
Through all the discussions, final confirmation of Arrow McLaren’s driver changes are expected in the near future.
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