IndyCar drivers take shots at McLaren driver contracts in savage social media posts

Axing David Malukas and then Theo Pourchaire, the latter signed and dropped within the space of a month, Scott McLaughlin has called for a moment of silence for the trees “sacrificed for McLaren contracts”.

Arrow McLaren shocked the IndyCar paddock on Tuesday when they announced Pourchaire had been dropped in favour of signing a multi-year deal with Nolan Siegel.

Arrow McLaren savaged by rival IndyCar drivers

That brought an end to Pourchaire’s five-race stint in the American series although, like Malukas, who was axed from the Arrow McLaren team having fractured his wrist in a pre-season cycling accident, he too is reportedly hoping to find another seat in the series.

McLaren’s IndyCar rivals weren’t holding back in their comments on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Let’s take a moment of silence for all the trees sacrificed for McLaren contracts,” tweeted Scott McLaughlin.

Conor Daly, who has raced over 100 times in IndyCar in a career spanning 11 years, then responded:

https://twitter.com/ConorDaly22/status/1803146601096937578

Even Chip Ganassi Racing chipped in with a “Sorry, we’re still a bit jet lagged from Le Mans. Did we miss anything?”

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But while the drivers weren’t holding back, motor racing fans were even more brutal with some calling out Zak Brown’s comments about Red Bull being a “toxic environment” only for McLaren to axe drivers.

One even suggested a support group for “Mistreated McLaren drivers.”

Mistreated mclaren driver support group goes hard pic.twitter.com/R1Mk9ULGf1

— Charlie ? (@aphvlons) June 18, 2024

It’s a group Pourchaire may sign up for with team’s special advisor Tony Kanaan, who broke the news to the 19-year-old, revealing he took it hard.

“Nobody takes that news well,” Kanaan admitted of his call to Pourchaire. “I explained it to him and gave him a few examples of what I’ve been through.

“The first question you ask yourself is ‘what did I do? Did I do anything wrong?’. He didn’t do anything wrong. It was just the situation. It was just a call that we had to make.

“It wasn’t personal, it wasn’t because of his performance. I think he’s done whatever he could do. He wasn’t happy but he understood.”

Just hours before Kanaan’s phone call, Pourchaire had been posting about his excitement about the IndyCar weekend ahead. He’s since deleted the post.

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