It was reassuring, last August in Nashville, to hear Zak Brown confirm that Arrow McLaren SP would be retaining its drivers for 2022. We were certain that Pato O’Ward wasn’t going anywhere, especially while McLaren dangled the Formula 1 carrot in front of him, and we knew that Felix Rosenqvist’s deal, signed in late 2020, was multi-year.
But still, this is a tough and swift-moving business. In silly season, one has to consider such factors as get-out clauses, performance clauses, breaches of terms and conditions, and “so sue me” attitudes. After all, in September 2019, this writer was assured by Sam Schmidt that James Hinchcliffe was staying onboard the imminently renamed Arrow McLaren SP team for 2020. Yet, within eight weeks, the Canadian was gone.
