Christian Lundgaard's results as an Arrow McLaren driver at the start of the 2025 season would probably be the biggest story in IndyCar right now, if it weren't for a guy named Alex Palou who just can't seem to stop winning.
Lundgaard finished eighth in the season opener at St. Pete and has been on the podium in every race since, with second and third at the Thermal Club and Long Beach, and second last Sunday at the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park.
However, his run was in serious jeopardy after a problem during Friday's first practice hampered his weekend program and left him with a seventh-place qualifying finish. But the team didn't stop there, as they continued to look for ways to improve the balance of Lundgaard's #7 car.
"I've been fighting the same balance problem all weekend. We had a problem with the car in P1, which kind of forced us not to try much in P1. So we didn't get to try some things we wanted to try. We were kind of stuck with what we had for the rest of the weekend because there were a lot of other things we needed to test. It kind of went down the list of things we wanted to try," explained Lundgaard.
The sensations were so different from day to day that he completed the 90 laps with a race-high 16 passes on the track en route to second place and claimed it was the "biggest game changer" he's experimented with in his career, although he didn't specify what it was.
"I said last night we have to do something if I want to have a good race car. We did it this morning in the warm-up. It was just clearly better. I said it was probably one of the biggest game changers I've had in a car. It's a relatively small change. A little bit surprising for us. The car at least felt a lot better.
Lundgaard's performance at the start of the season would pretty much put him at the top - or very close - of the championship in any given year, and although he sits second after Barber, the gap to Palou is 60 points heading into next weekend's race on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. However, the McLaren driver is putting things into perspective and is more than happy with his season.
"I think it's just about putting that aside and focusing on yourself. The 10 car [Palou] is doing a great job. We've seen that in years past. I would say we're trying to raise our own bar and we're doing that. We're getting better and better.
"On top of that, I had a team change. Meeting a bunch of new people, working with a bunch of new people. It's a different car to drive. I'm very happy with the work that I've done so far, the work that we've done. I mean, I don't think I could have dreamed of three podiums in four races, four first races.
Commenting on the change of team, joining McLaren in the off-season after a three-year stint in IndyCar with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Lundgaard summarized that it was just a matter of having a faster car in his hands now. His 4.7 average finish position this season, compared to the 12.2 he had during his time at RLL, helps underscore his words.
"I think at the end of the day not much is really different from my own approach. I would say it's keeping things very simple and just focusing on what you can control, really mastering the basics. I think the car is purely faster than what I've been doing for the last three years.
"I think we've seen that just from the results over the last three years. But no, it's just good and nice to see it come into reality, really just executing when we have the pace. I think we've done that. I think we got more out of Long Beach than we expected when we woke up Sunday morning. At the end of the day, that's how you compete for championships.
